Ponda: Plans for IIT Goa’s permanent campus were stalled at six different sites—mostly due to local protests—and it appeared the saga would finally end with the selection of Farmagudi. However, new protests erupted on Sunday as a large group of locals gathered near the Katamgal Dada shrine on the plateau to raise slogans against the project.The group offered “garhane” (collective obeisance) before the deity against the IIT campus project. Locals claimed the land has been revered for generations as the place where the Katamgal Dada deity resides.RGP St Andre MLA Viresh Borkar and Ponda councillor Venkatesh Naik alias Dada were among the protesters.“No body knows the exact route taken by the deity, believed to be patrolling the plateau at night. If the path is blocked by any development for IIT with fences, it would prove doom for us,” local Gurudas Naik told the protesters at the site.The councillor said Farmagudi plateau is land of Katamgal Dada and should be retained that way. “Nobody can grab the land of the deity,” he said.The protest came after the Union education ministry’s site selection committee approved the land parcel for the project and the Centre directed Goa govt to complete all formalities and transfer the land at the earliest for the project.IIT Goa has been operating from its permanent campus at GEC Farmagudi since its establishment in 2016.Since the institute’s establishment in 2016, Goa govt’s struggle to secure a permanent location has led to years of delays.Borkar on Sunday alleged that the project at Farmagudi was BJP govt’s plan to usurp Goa’s lands under the guise of an educational institution. He said that this attempt would be thwarted and that they are prepared for an agitation.The campus has faced repeated opposition, forcing state govt to scrap plans.Earlier proposals at Loliem, Melauli, Cotarli and, most recently, Codar, were abandoned following sustained public opposition, largely over land acquisition concerns.Proposed in 2020, the Melaulim (Sattari) site triggered massive protests, with clashes between locals and police turning violent, leading to the site’s cancellation in early 2021.The farmland identified in Rivona (Sanguem) resulted in protests from tenanted farmers claiming their land was being seized without consent. This site was ultimately abandoned due to land title discrepancies.Govt later announced Codar (Ponda) site as a prospective site in Aug 2025 but quickly scrapped it weeks later following threats of aggressive protests from locals and activists. Govt was forced to cancel the project planned on 14 lakh sqm of comunidade land due to persistent opposition from locals over environmental and livelihood issues.
