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GOAN TO THE GULF: THERE'S NO EASY ROAD EITHER WAY
By Frederick Noronha
PANJIM, Dec 31: From the time they leave home, to getting education for
their children, and catching a flights home (and even in times of the
occasional case of shipping a dead body back) Goa's Gulf-based expats have
to put up with a number of difficulties.
"(We have taken up these issues repeatedly in recent years) but not much
could be achieved due to the frequent changes in the Government of Goa over
the last several years," said Alex Wilson Coelho and Rabindra Pimenta, two
Gulf-based expats who highlighted the emigrant community's woes here.
Their appeal came during the recently-held Overseas' Goan Convention. A
detailed listing of the Gulf Goans' grievances was put up by them on behalf
of the Goan Welfare Society in Kuwait (www.goa-world.net/gws/)
Some issues raised include:
PROFESSIONAL SEATS: Access to seats for NRI Goans in professional colleges
has long been sought. Domicile rules -- meant to protect the interest of
locals -- seem to be cutting into the interest of those who migrate from
Goa, a state with a high level of out-migration.
Expats say they are willing to pay the higher fees for the same. In any
case, they point out, some expat parents are paying high amounts for seats
in nearby Karnataka, and would not mind coping with the more reasonable
fees-structure for non-aided professional colleges in India itself.
Ironically, engineering education in Goa has expanded vastly in recent
years; and there are now three degree engineering colleges as against the
earlier one.
(Educators fear they would run short of students, even as an industrial
group is planning to open another 600-seat engineering college -- admission
on an all-India basis, with some 10% promised to Goans. But it is not clear
whether there are domicile, and other roadblocks, which stop NRI Goan
students from taking up such seats.)
But the seats should be open to students passing out of the CBSE Board, they
Gulf-based expats say. In addition, they point out that degrees of the Goa
University are "not being recognised" by educational institutions in Kuwait
and other Gulf countries.
FLYING BACK: Expats also want that the Gulf-Goa route be thrown open to
other airlines, apart from Indian-Airlines or Air-India, which have only a
limited number of flights each week and are seen by them as charging
passengers on this route exorbitant fees.
Said the Goa Welfare Society memorandum, a copy of was made available here:
"A time has come when other airlines, such as Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air,
Emirates Airlines, Oman Air, Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines Airlines,
etc, should be given the option to operate their flights directly to Goa."
Expats voiced concern over the location of a new airport at Mopa, in an
extreme corner of remote northern Goa's Pernem taluka. This, they said, was
unfortunate as a "majority of Goans in the Gulf hail from the south of Goa
and quite a large hail from the central part of Goa, leaving those of the
extreme north to a very small number".
They argued that out of over 150,000 Goans living in the entire Gulf region
-- Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Iraq and Iran -- some
"ninety percent" come from south and central Goa.
"Needless to say, a huge number of Goans will be subjected to undue
suffering if the present airport is shifted to Mopa. Dabolim airport has
been servicing the needs of the entire population for several decades, and
hence there is absolutely no need to shift the same to any other place,"
argues the petition.
On the issue of transporting bodies of those who die abroad, the Goan
Welfare Society pressed for the Goa government to provide free
transportation of human remains through Air India and Indian Airlines.
This should be done, they contended, "in consideration of the economic
growth of the state of Goa through the foreign remittances of savings of the
Gulf Goans".
FACILITIES SOUGHT: The Gulf-based expats asked the Goa government for an
allocation of suitable land to build their own NRI City "with full-fledged
infrastructure without any hindrance to the Government of Goa".
They sought a social security fund for those returning, a group
life-insurance for NRI Goans, and better attempts to maintain detailed
records of countrywide expat Goans scattered across the globe. This could be
done through Indian missions abroad, they suggested.
Also mooted was an NRI Goans Forum -- to deal with the needs of the tens of
thousands settled abroad from this region that has been emigration-prone for
many decades, if not centuries. For this purpose, a special cell needs be
opened with some NRIs as its members, it was mooted.
IMMIGRATION: Current immigration laws require 'immigration clearance' from
all Indians who go abroad and return within three years. "This law is
against the interest of a majority of NRI Goans in the Gulf countries," says
the appeal.
It seeks waiver of the 'immigration clearance' requirement in cases where
applicants have a clear, contracted job in the Gulf and with to travel --
back and forth -- within a three year period.
'Illegal activities' of recruitment agents, both in India and the Gulf, lead
to harassment of domestics from their employers. Several Goans have not yet
been paid their UN Compensation Claims, due over the 1990 Gulf War. Goa's
government should open a special cell to redress claimants' grievances, the
Kuwait group demanded.
It also raised the call for the Goa government to "open the doors" for NRI
Goans to invest in Goa, by extending them "all help and support". Often,
investment opportunities are not publicised among expats, said the appeal.
(GoaNet)
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