PANAJI
As many as 9,000 Goans who were in distress abroad were assisted and brought back home to safety over the last five years.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the Goa legislative Assembly that since 2019 till date, 9,043 Goans who were either in trouble or stranded abroad for various reasons were successfully brought back to India by the NRI Department of the Centre.
Sawant provided this information through a written reply to a query raised by AAP's Benaulim MLA Venzy Viegas.
According to Sawant's reply, in 2020, 7,939 Goans who worked on board ships during the Covid pandemic were brought back to Goa.
Also other than the seafarers, 1,027 Goans stranded in various countries were brought back to the State under the Vande Bharat Mission.
Additionally 59 people who faced various other problems abroad were brought back, he added.
Apart from this, the NRI department has also successfully brought back Indians trapped in various wars in the last few years -- 17 Goans brought back to Goa during the Russia-Ukraine war that started in February 2022.
Later in October last year when the Israel-Palestine war broke out, the NRI department succeeded in repatriating a Goan back to the country.
DEAD BODIES
Additionally, the Central NRI department also helped in bringing back the mortal remains of Goans who died abroad.
In the last five and a half years, the mortal remains of 41 Goans who died abroad were brought back. Of these, 12 bodies were brought back last year alone.
