The Goa Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has refused to allot two lakh sq mt of land at Quittol identified by the Union Government for the project of setting up a National Institute of Marine Biology and Biotechnology in South Goa.
GIDC has maintained that the land is under litigation and so cannot be handed over. The State government might now have to scout for another patch of land for the project.
PM Modi, during his visit to Paris in April 2015, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the French government for setting up an Institute of Marine Biology and Biotechnology in India, and Goa was identified as the preferred destination.