Team Herald
PANJIM: Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Thursday said that those holding dual passports will lose either their Indian or Portuguese citizenship, but Goans whose births are registered in Lisbon are safe.
Parsekar made the statement a day after the Centre’s inter-ministerial committee recommended that Goans who obtained Portuguese nationality by registering their names in that country’s Central Registry could lose Indian citizenship.
Parsekar also urged Goans to introspect on the contentious issue. “There is no scope for dual citizenship. There is need for our Goans to introspect. They should not leave their citizenship and opt for another nationality,” he said speaking on the sidelines of an event on Thursday.
Describing the long queues of Goans
applying for Portuguese passport outside the Portuguese Consulate at Altinho, Parsekar said, “I feel pained to see this. It’s alright if the birth was registered in Portugal years ago.”
The inter-ministerial committee, headed by Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry BK Prasad, recommended that the issue of citizenship should be decided as per the Citizenship Act 1955 and Citizenship Rules 2009.
The Centre set up the panel following a letter of the then Governor of Goa, BV Wanchoo, and then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar (currently Defence Minister) informing that around four lakh Goans have registered their names in Portugal’s Central Registry of Births, Marriages and Death.
