Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Monday met villagers of Sattari taluka who are protesting against an Indian Institute of Technology coming up in the region. They told the CM, who was accompanied by local MLA and state health minister Vishwajit Rane, that cultivable land was being acquired for the project and this would leave them with no source of income.

The IIT is proposed on a 10 lakh square metre area in Shel-Malauli and Guleli villages, some 50 kilometres from Panaji, officials said. ”The state government has promised villagers that they would get alternate land if their plot is acquired. We have already identified some 40,000 square metres of the project,” Sawant told reporters after the meeting.

He said the project is a matter of national pride and the state government will provide ”any kind of compensation” to get the villagers to agree to it. A four-member committee has been formed to coordinate between the villagers and collectorate officials, he added.