Team Herald
MARGAO: The Goa Seaman Association of India (GSAI) has written to the Governor of Goa P S Sreedharan Pillai, requesting him to ask the State government to make the Goa Seafarers Welfare Pension scheme permanent.
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“We do plead to your good office to kindly intervene to reconsider the decision as a temporary relief of 6 months taken by Government of Goa and to consider our demand to make the scheme permanent for the improvement and benefit of the Seafarer’s community,” said GSAI President Frank Viegas.
Viegas added that the government’s decision has not brought much relief to the Seafarer’s Community, especially to the old and the needy who keep visiting their office and have been praying that the scheme doesn’t lapse or get discontinued.
He recalled how the scheme was launched after the former Chief Minister (late) Manohar Parrikar had visited their office in Margao and had personally met the seafarers to understand their plight.
He added that their demands of the last three years have not been met, and that senior citizens have been forced to make numerous trips to government offices and banks for their pension, which has taken a toll on their physical and psychological health.
