BY A STAFF REPORTER [email protected] PANJIM: As many as 400 Goans every year acquire Portuguese passports to seek jobs in Europe and settle anywhere in Europe as its citizen. This was revealed during the recently concluded special summary revision of electoral rolls undertaken by the Election Office, Altinho from November 1, 2010 to January 1 this year. Though the Election Office was unable to get the exact number of Goans acquiring Portuguese passports from the office of Portuguese Consulate, the information provided by the foreigners registration office of Goa police has stated that nearly 400 Goans acquire Portuguese passports every year. In 2008, as many as 312 Goans acquired Portuguese nationality and the number shot up to 432 the next year in 2009. Similarly in 2010 (up to July), a total of 433 Goans left the state in search of greener pastures in Europe. Most Goans were giving up Indian citizenship to migrate mostly to Portugal and United Kingdom (UK) even as they struggle to go through the tedious process of verification of documents. Sometimes applicalions remain pending for many months or even years. Meanwhile, the election office which started the process of deleting the names of such Goans who' ve given up citizenship, however, silspects that an estimated 12,000 have acquired Portuguese passports in the last 12 years. The persons who acquire Portuguese passports lose their Indian citizenship and have to surrender their Indian passports. Meanwhile, the special summary revision of electoral rolls of Goa Assembly constituencies has shown a decrease of 5,615 voters. The total number of electorate which was 10,42,385 as on January 1, 2010 had now fallen to 10, 36,770 voters as on January 1, 2011. Meanwhile, the online registration of voters launched by the Election Office, Altinho from December 19, last year evoked a poor response. Election officials were expecting a better result with computer literacy relatively high in Goa. But only 65 voters had registered themselves online, most in the age group of 35'to 40.
Gomantak Times, 16/2/2011
