MARGAO: Social group ‘Citizens for Democracy’ on Thursday accused the government of being unfair to the seafarers’ community by coming out with a limited duration scheme of a mere six months that could neither be categorized as welfare nor pension scheme.
Former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes said that the scheme notified last month appeared more to be a political move of the BJP for some possible electoral gains and asked the chief minister not to play with the sentiments of the seafarers whose contribution to the State’s economy has been immense.
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In a letter to the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar, Gomes said that they should understand the woes of seafarers and come out with a well-formulated scheme that will be of genuine assistance to them rather than a limited six months one that will be ending even before the elaborate requirements of the prescribed documents are fulfilled.
He raised questions on the abrupt discontinuation of the earlier scheme in October 2019 which he said had left many beneficiaries in the lurch although the financial outgo on the same was minimal.
“Your approach appears to be less out of genuine concern for seafarers. Why six months and not 12 that goes on year after year? Seafarers have taken nothing from the government. On the contrary, seafarers have poured huge amounts of money into the economy of the State by fuelling consumer demand in many sectors”, he stated.
Elvis cautioned not to treat seafarers so casually by bringing out a casual six months scheme. Seafarers’ community that has been hit hard with adverse effects of the pandemic deserves better.
