Agency report
       
Panaji, May 17 (Wednesday, 1-00 am): Public notices will be issued shortly asking 200 Goans, affected by the Gulf war that broke out in 1991 after Iraq invaded Kuwait, to come forward to collect their compensation.
 
The newly appointed NRI commissioner Eduardo Faleiro told reporters on Tuesday that the United Nations Compensation Commision had awarded the money but the Ministry of External Affairs had not been able to trace the 200 Goans.
 
Faleiro said that these persons had fled Kuwait after the war broke out and had filed compensation claims. The compensation is around $10,000 in some cases to make up for the mental anguish these individuals suffered when they had to clear out of Kuwait post-haste.
 
Faleiro said that he had asked the government of Goa to study the NRI sabha enacted by Punjab under which Punjabi NRIs have been able to secure their land and property here.
 
Faleiro said that he received several complaints from Goans settled abroad that their property had been annexed. He said that the Punjab act had helped NRIs in that state to evict encroachers and take back their property.
 
The same protection should be offered to Goans who have lost their ancestral property after moving abroad, Faleiro said.