Valpoi: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Thursday visited Melaulim village in Sattari taluka to meet the tribals, who are opposing proposed IIT campus in their village.
Sawant toured the village and met the agitators assuring them to go ahead wit the project only after taking them into confidence.
“We will form a committee of 15 people which will be in discussion with me over this project. All the issues raised by the locals over the project would be addressed,” said Sawant.
The villagers, however, refused to withdraw their agitation, stressing that their single point demand is that State government should shift IIT project from their village.
Sawant told villagers during the public meeting that the state government is ready to rehabilitate the people who would be affected by the project and would also regularize the land titles, which has been pending since long.
The chief minister stated that the villagers would be benefitted out of the project. “Under no circumstances, we will force the IIT project on the people,” he said.
The locals have been opposing the IIT project which is proposed to be set up across 10 lakh square metres of the land in Melaulim village. During the interaction with the chief minister, all the locals unanimously stated that they are not interested in having the project in their village.
