Panaji: Power minister and Marcaim MLA Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar on Monday said that the decision regarding the permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa project lies with state govt.“Govt will discuss the issue and then decide. That it was opposed in the gram sabha does not mean it will not happen because of that. They have put forth their queries. Govt will decide what has to be done,” Dhavalikar said on Bandora residents opposing the project at the gram sabha on Sunday..Residents opposed govt’s acquisition of Katamgal Dada Shrine land for the campus at Farmagudi during the Bandora gram sabha. The residents said that they also want the land to be protected as a biodiversity site.On June 28, the activists had gathered at the Katamgal Dada shrine at Farmagudi to voice their opposition and offered a formal “garhane” (collective obeisance) before the deity, reiterating their stance against the IIT project.Chief minister Pramod Sawant had later assured that land of the shrine would be left out from the project area. But locals have raised biodiversity conservation and environmental issues over the project.
