Commissioner for NRI Affairs Eduardo Faleiro has announced plans to
hold a yearly global convention of Goan NRIs that are home to significant
expat Goan populations. This way, he said, it would allow the participation
of those not able to come to Goa for expat meetings and also provide
for greater involvement of expatriates. He spoke of plans to "unite"
Goan organisations, both within Goa
and overseas, under "one global network based in Goa". He
made this statement after returning from Toronto, Canada, where a convention
of Goans was held, following one in Lisbon, Portugal, the previous year.
"On the sidelines of the convention, I discussed with the Goan
organisations there modalities for redressal of grievances of non-resident
Goans," Faleiro said in a statement here. Goan organisations are
to nominate one representative based in Goa for each country with substantial
Goan populations, who would submit expat grievances to the local NRI
office including disputes related to property. "Our office will
then forward the complaints to the concerned departments and expect
redressal within a month," Faleiro promised. "When this is
not possible we will issue a status report every month to the concerned
individual, indicating the progress in the settlement of his grievance
until the matter is finally resolved," he added.
Faleiro, a former union minister in the 1980s and 1990s, said a global
Goans office would be set up in Panaji by next December. He said that
he met the Canadian minister for small business and consumer affairs
Harinder Takkar, of Indian origin. "Mr. Takkar felt that NRIs who
have distinguished themselves particularly in the technological and
economic fields should be co opted as members of boards and corporations
in India so that their expertise would benefit the country and the different
states of India," Faleiro added. He said this suggestion deserved
"sympathetic consideration" and would not burden the local
exchequer as only those who come regularly to India on their own cost
would be nominated.
