PANAJI: The First Information Reports filed against more than 100 protesters agitating against an upcoming IIT campus project in Goa, will be withdrawn if the Congress party comes to power, spokesperson Vijay Bhike said on Monday.
Addressing a press conference here, Bhike also said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in Goa should drop the proposed site for the IIT-Goa campus in Melaulim in wake of the opposition.
"When we come to power, we will withdraw these cases filed against the people in Melaulim, " Bhike said.
"We also want the IIT to come up in Goa but not at the cost of destroying lives and livelihoods of people... and the cost of destruction of forests, " Bhike also said.
More than 100 villagers of Melaulim, as well as opposition party politicians have been booked, many of whom have also been accused of attempt to murder, for participating in violent protests against the upcoming IIT-Goa project at Melaulim village in North Goa.
Ever since an IIT was allotted to Goa by the Central government in 2014, the institute has been functioning from a temporary campus shared by the Goa Engineering College in Farmagudi village in South Goa.
Two sites previously identified by the state government, in Canacona and Sanguem sub districts, for setting up a permanent campus for the IIT were dropped in the face of protests from local residents and after pressure from the Opposition, which had alleged a land scam in shortlisting of sites for the technology institute.
The villagers of Melaulim, mostly members of the Scheduled Tribes, claim that they are being forcefully evicted from their landholdings by the government to make way for the IIT project.