TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Even as locals queue up to register themselves in Portugal, with more than 400 applications being made every day, estimates show that already nearly 40,000 plus people have gone beyond mere registration and are aiming for the Bilhete and Portuguese passport itself.ccording to rough estimates there might be even be around 4, 000 to 5000 persons who are government servants with some even having taken leave (5 years allowed) to work abroad and rejoin work. However, besides those in government service and those who have contested elections, to most others it should not pose any great problem, experts feel.
“There are at least 400 applications being made per day,” PWD Minister Ramkrishna Sudhin Dhavalikar said today ruing the fact that so many were opting to get themselves registered for Portuguese citizenship and reiterating his demand that the Portuguese consulate be shifted from the state.
Dhavalikar was firm on his stand that properties of those with dual citizenship properties be taken over by the Centre and those who want to retain their properties opt for Indian citizenship. “Loyalty to the Portuguese will not to be tolerated” said Dhavalikar — his statements apparently in contradiction to his coalition partner’s, the BJP, on the issue.
Dhavalikar also called what UGDP’s Radharao Gracias remarks on the issue as “dual speak on dual citizenship.”“He said that one side Caitu has to be disqualified while on the other side Churchill should be protected.” .
What began as a war of attrition between arch rivals Francisco Mickky Pacheco proxy Caitano alias Caitu Silva and the Alemaos over the Benaulim seat has turned into an issue of rights of lakhs of state citizens However, legal experts say that this should not be construed as a problem for all, except those in government service or wanting to contest elections.
Surprisingly the Alemao too are entrapped in the same net with allegations surfacing and a complaint filed before the police over Churchill Alemao’s marriage and the births of some of his kin being registered in Portugal. Herald has accessed copies of these documents.
Churchill however feigned ignorance of this saying since his children are not in politics, the question of their Portugese citizenship doesn’t arise. On the other hand Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters that he would soon be writing to the Union Home Ministry on the handling of the Caitu’s Portuguese citizenship issue and would also brief it on how at least one lakh Goans, who have registered their birth in Portugal, could face a threat to their Indian nationality.
