In no position to stop Goans from surrendering their

passports: CM Stating that the government is not in a position to stop Goans surrendering their passports and leaving the state to reside in other countries, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, on Saturday, said that this practice has been going on for the past 60 years, since the Liberation. of Goa. Sawant also informed that a meeting in this regard has been fixed by the government of Goa with the officials of the Ministry of Home and Ministry of External Affairs on February 17 and February 18. Earlier, the opposition legislators raised concern over this situation. Speaking further, the Chief Minister said that many people are leaving Goa for various reasons such as better prospects in life, lucrative jobs, higher education and so on. “It is their personal decision,” he added, pointing out that the government however is ready to help the Goan diaspora, which is facing problems with their passport and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI). The Congress MLA, Altone D’Costa informed the state legislative assembly that the passports surrendered by Goans in 2020 were 928, in 2021 were 975 and in 2022 their number was 1,285, while the total number of passports surrendered during the last 10 years was 28,000. . The Revolutionary Goans Party legislator Viresh Borkar said that percentage of passports surrendered by the Goans in the year 2022 was 45.2% of the total passports surrendered in the country. “Furthermore in the year 2021 it was 44.9% of the national percentage, in the year 2020 it was 45.3% in the year 2019 it was 64.31% and in the year, and 2018 it was 70.47%,” he added, pointing out that such percentage pertaining to Goa was around 45% of the total passports surrendered in the country since the year 2020 as per the data of the Ministry of External Affairs. The Chief Minister however said that during the past 3 years, around 2,000 applications have been received by the Regional Passport Office, Goa, and during the same period 114 passports have been revoked by it. He also said that a related report from the Ministry of External Affairs is awaited by his government. Sawant further said that his government is concerned about Goans surrendering their passports and is sensitive to this issue.