Sitting in a café on the busy thoroughfare of Candolim, on which men and women from several nationalities move, little does one realise that many are carrying excess baggage, which is far different from the kind that you pay for at airports, while checking in.
Over the years many have realized that the real baggage has been acquired much after they arrived in Goa and settled down to a life of locals, with more friends and fresh memories than they have way back home.
Home for most was England. Their new home, for most, is Goa. But it’s a home they have to leave every 182 days, the time they are allowed to spend in the country at a stretch. These are people who have lived for 12 years or even more in India, have set up business establishments, run homes or just live here.
As we write this, we learn that one British couple, who run a resort in Canacona district, will be going to Kathmandu, later this month to “have lunch” and return the same day to fulfill the clause of exiting India once in 182 days. Another elderly gent, frail in health says 50 percent of his annual expenditure is on travelling to the UK for two weeks, staying in a hotel, because his life is only in India, is just to get his visa renewed.
The uncertainty over the status of their visas was one of the reasons which triggered questions regarding the validity of their businesses. Senior lawyer Rajnish Sharma, who is dealing with several cases of foreigners having property in Goa says, “The length of the Visa cannot determine if the person is a resident or not. As long they have registered a company in Goa and paying taxes, that is enough to establish residency. FEMA does not differentiate between a foreigner and an Indian. It does between a resident and a non-resident.”
In the early 2000s, it seemed that the laws were simple and were interpreted simply. That was the time more and more British nationals arrived in Goa either to set up businesses or retire. According to senior police intelligence officials, agencies like the Enforcement Directorate swung into action after, the Russians came to Goa and started buying land. That was time when there were large scale complaints of literal land grabbing. The immediate scrutiny that followed affected everyone. It is assumed that over 400 such inquires which were done, the majority of them were British, because simply put, their numbers were higher than Russians. There were essentially two grounds on which the scrutiny happened –a) Whether the business were set up according to all FEMA rules; b) whether the land on which their establishments were set up was no agricultural and c) whether the nature of the businesses they declared were really being carried out. An official of the enforcement directorate said that many of these notices were sent in the period between 2007 and 2011.
“Most properties had a built up area and a large open land. Often the open space was seen as agricultural land and came under the ambit of investigation”.
The Joint Director of the Enforcement Directorate office in Goa told Herald, “There were 400 cases under investigation to begin with. This has been brought down to 187 cases, of which confiscation orders have been given in just 44 cases. We hope to bring down the cases under investigation to 100, by the end of the year”
Words which will hopefully bring relief to those who call Goa,home.
Review Bureau
