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5th Annual Konkan Fruit Fest
Promenade, D B Bandodkar Road, Panaji, Goa
16-18, May 2008
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073789.html
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It is quite wonderful that new laws can be introduced to protect Goa & Goan
land from non-Goans or should this be non-PIO. Yes wonderful.
Is it so wonderful that these laws can then be back-dated to another time or
put out a person or family from their home AFTER they have settled & lived in
the country, no doubt contributing as did this couple in their retirement
years, by doing up an old house & also the land surrounding it, only to be told
to leave, Goa does not want you?
I was approached by a developer some years ago, visited a conference they
held at a hotel in Kensington, London. Was absolutely thrilled to see what was
happening in Goa, but that was some years ago, at least 15 years ago.
My wife & me where self-employed business people on good money, we had a
young family but thought about our future and wanted to do the same as this
couple, buy a place and build a house, with a little land for cultivating own
vegetables, have a nice tree or two and flowers etc.
But we were very wary of the rights of our children, being girls etc.........
in Goa. Since my post on this last year, I was advised at the time that if my
girls were PIO then there is no issue, there were several routes we could take
to ensure their future, and property rights etc.
After much ado, here & there we noticed the developers were always asking for
money upfront, the villas or duplex's etc were not yet built but deposits were
being taken, so we did not go ahead.
Lucky for us. PIO or otherwise, one of us is NOT a PIO, will the Goan or
Indian Government then choose to add a further amendment to the law and
prohibit any spouse of a PIO not reside in their house?
Goa is getting hysterial with this, I am so very sorry for this couple, who
in 8 years have managed to live & contribute to Goan society in their
retirement but have been made to feel like the Ghattis the Goans abhor.......
PIO or not, this couple were "Westerners" sorry, but Goa is for Goans only, no
other people, not even from India or other parts of the world are welcome to
live there.
Do come as tourists, we want your money, but if you decide to stay a bit too
long, then we dont want you, we want new, fresh (young.........?) things with
money, spend spend spend on booze & drugs, till you drop, or we will drop you,
one way or another.
Disgraceful, I cannot believe my eyes and ears these days. Luckily MY PIO
spouse is from Mauritius, where I AM welcome, as her spouse, to live
indefinitely, in much the same way as she is WELCOME to live in the UK, where I
was born, of European parentage, live, work, contribute to the society, as she
has done for past 19 years. In Mauritius I know I will not be treated in this
way, by the Mauritian Government, nor by the locals, with whom I have a great
rapport. I am not the only European welcome in Mauritius, but then I suppose
Mauritius has kept its exclusivity, anyone who can rustle up a couple hundred
quid can find their way to a "hotel" for a week. For the same in Mauritius,
well you need to rustle up five times that, and that's just the cheap end of
the market. Anyone wanting a week in Mauritius can say goodbye to Rs 200,000
(fare, travel, food, hotel, sighseeing).
Unless you are like me, married to a Mauritian and have Mauritian relatives
who know how to save money, rent a bungalow for the same price as I would have
paid in Goa, yes that CHEAP.
Maybe its time to draw a line.............. if you dont want strangers in
your country, put a sign saying so, just as the sign we once saw on Goanet,
from a house owner wanting to rent his house " FOREIGERS ONLY "... except now
it should read "Goans only, no Ghattis or Westerners need apply".
Welcome to Goa!
Oh my goodness, this cant go on.
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Eight years ago, my husband and I decided that we no longer wanted to deal with
the stress of working in high pressure jobs ......................... We
approached a reputed builder and local advocate, who all told us we were safe
to buy property in Goa. To be on the safe side, we asked the advocate to
confirm through the Reserve Bank (RBI) that any purchase made by us was legal.
We received a letter from the RBI advising that there would be no
objection, providing we complied with FEMA. We still have this letter. As we
are not great lovers of modern architecture, we purchased an old Portuguese
house with a nice-sized garden. All the paperwork was completed and we took
possession of the property. Renovating the property and grounds was expensive;
in all honesty it would have been cheaper to build a new house. But we were
happy that it was our last house and we would make it just as we wanted.
For several years we were very happy in Goa. Then all of sudden we are being
treated quite disgracefully. The press runs daily horror stories of how Goa
doesn't want people like us. We originally came on a 5 year X Visa. Then we
were told we no longer qualify for these visas, and can only have a six-month
tourist visa. Now MLAs are openly saying that properties purchased by
foreigners will be confiscated and auctioned. We sadly decided to leave Goa,
but were informed that we could not sell our property. Our builder, who has
enjoyed our
patronage for years, has said that he will deal with all the paperwork if we
sell the house to him for the initial purchase price (excluding what we paid
him).
