NIT's proposed facility in a Goa village faces opposition

The proposed facility of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) at Cuncolim village in Goa is facing a tough road ahead with the local residents opposing the project.
The opposition Congress has also urged that the locals should be taken into confidence before going ahead with the project.
The state government has acquired six lakh square metres of land for the proposed NIT campus at Cuncolim village, 50 kms away from Panaji. However, Cuncolim Municipal Council (CMC) has adopted a resolution opposing setting it up there.
CMC Chairman Devendra Desai said that the NIT would be allowed only if there is reservation for the people of Cuncolim in the jobs created at the institute as well as in the seats for students.

The temporary campus of NIT had been set up way back in 2010 at Farmagudi village. The NIT already offers 50 per cent reservation in seats to students from the state.
Notwithstanding this reservation, Desai said that the reservation should be for the people of that village.

The CMC has formally adopted a resolution opposing NIT claiming that the project will be taking up huge chunk of land from the village.
The Congress has partially supported CMC's stand.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress spokesman Aleixo Lourenco said that the state government should not go ahead with the project without taking the local residents into confidence.

"The party does not oppose NIT. It can be set up anywhere in the state, where government has already acquired land masses and kept them unutilised. If Cuncolim villagers oppose, the facility should not be forced there," Lourenco said.