Govt moves to demarcate land for edu hub at Davorlim

Margao: Several years after the land was acquired by the state government and handed over to the education department for establishing an educational hub, the work of demarcating the boundaries of the 1.15 lakh sqm of land is now under way.

Uday Gaonkar, deputy director, South zone, education department, told TOI that that exercise was aimed at protecting the land in possession of the government from any encroachments.

The state government had plans to allot parcels of this land to schools in Margao to shift their premises there with a view to decongesting the town.

Though several schools had then declared their support to the government’s proposal, the plans had remained grounded until chief minister Pramod Sawant said in the last assembly session, in July, that the government will move toset up an educational complex in Navelim.

Sawant, who also holds the education portfolio, while responding to a calling attention motion raised by Navelim MLA Ulhas Tuenkar, had pointed out that the land had been acquired for an integrated school complex in Davorlim.

Pointing out that there was a strong possibility of the land being encroached on and that there was anxiety among teachers and parents over the safety of students, Tuenkar had sought government’s intervention in the matter.

Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, during whose term the land was acquired, said the situation was indeed precarious, particularly during school opening and closing hours.

The chief minister had assured the House that necessary instructions would be issued to the education department to survey the land and accordingly plan the execution of work to set up the education complex at Davorlim.

Sources in the education department said that there were several proposals from school managements for allocation of land, and that the exercise of apportioning the land will begin soon.