Trevor, the UK-based international sales head of a multinational IT company, no longer has to travel to India for a work trip. The 40-year-old’s meetings this month in Bengaluru and Mumbai stand cancelled—as does the short stopover in Goa to see family—and although teleconferencing constantly with his teams in Toronto, Asia and Australia is tiring, he’s glad he’s home in Surrey to help his wife with their two toddlers. If his meetings were held on schedule, he would have been in a soup, since his OCI card wouldn’t have got him to his country of origin, - till April 15 at least- following the Indian government’s ban on everyone from overseas entering, including OCI holders as well as Indian passport holders
While the short trip
to Ga will be missed, he is one of the lucky few who are stuck and can’t either
move out of India or move in
Amit, on the other
hand, doesn’t know when he’ll see his two children again. On contract with a
cruise liner that’s sailing American waters with no passengers aboard, the
35-year-old has been telling his Porvorim-based family for the last 10 days
now: “I’ll know what’s happening to me when I’m told”.
The steward is among
an estimated 5,000 seafarers from Goa working on cruise liners who are stuck at
either ports or in the middle of oceans waiting for countries to relax their
travel and entry restrictions or for work to begin again.
For Mario from
Margao, being part of the merchant navy means there’s no dearth of work even in
the present pandemic, as according to the International Maritime Organization
“90% of the world’s trade is carried by sea” and that’s everything from food to
fertilizer.
Moreover, as a top
crew member of an oil tanker that is constantly sailing, he knows he’ll have to
relieve his counterpart soon as the demand for crude oil grows in view of
falling prices. But the port he is expecting to board from is in South Korea, a
country still in the red over the virus.
There’s also another
issue. The 48-year-old is presently in self-quarantine at home because his
recent travels included a flight from Dubai. While he did wear a mask and use a
hand sanitizer and there are no symptoms of the virus yet nor has the airline
called to say anyone onboard tested positive for Covid-19, the last 10 days
have been anxiety-ridden.
“My biggest fear is
that I’m putting my family at risk. Although I don’t have any symptoms now,
what if they appear towards the end of 14 days? By then I would have
inadvertently, despite my best efforts, passed it on to my family, wouldn’t I?”
asks the worried father-of-two. He wishes test kits were available in Goa “so
that people could just check for themselves and be relieved of this tension”.
At present blood
samples of suspected cases are sent by the state-run Goa Medical College (GMC)
to laboratories outside Goa. To curtail the inevitable added pressure on such a
system, people have been asked to self-quarantine and test only if they show
symptoms of Covid-19.
Calling the corona
virus “a pandemic of panic”, Sangolda-based Natalia, who was scheduled to visit
London to renew a house rental contract, says she’s put off plans till the
travel restrictions are lifted and “more importantly” the OCI card’s visa
status is reinstated. “I don’t want the headache of applying for and going
through the process of getting a visa in the present stressed scenario,” says
the 43-year-old.
Meanwhile, Marcel
from Colvale, who was to join his cruise liner this month, says the wait for
things to get back to normal is what’s deeply stressful. “If it goes on like
this for a long time how are we going to manage? I don’t have another source of
income,” says the 52-year-old.
Neither does his
colleague, Aquem-based Thomas, which is why the 48-year-old has decided to
spend his current forced hiatus examining the feasibility of resurrecting his
ancestral farm in Chandor.
In Dona Paula,
Shalini, who works for a non-profit in the financial sector and shuttles
between Goa, Mumbai and Myanmar “at least twice a month for at least three days
each” is staying put. With meetings, product launches, conferences, and even
the celebration of a partner agency on hold in view of worldwide travel
restrictions, she’s spending her time working remotely and bonding with her two
children who are also at home.
“On a personal level
the restrictions have stopped us from travelling by train to Kerala, which we
were supposed to do as my in-laws are there. We’ll take a call on this trip
later,” says the 43-year-old.
The restrictions have
seen Reshma’s US-based, OCI cardholding-cousins decide to skip her wedding in
April. “While my older cousin said simply he doesn’t have leave to spend in
quarantine, his sister felt it best not to take on the stress of getting an
urgent visa,” says the 28-year-old marketing executive from Utorda. She herself
will take a call on whether her beach wedding will happen or not on April 1, a
day after the state government’s 14-day restrictions are lifted.
Asked if any Goans
holding OCI cards had been in touch with the NRI commission for help with
emergency or urgent visa requirements, chairman Narendra Sawaikar said no,
adding that the commission hadn’t received any intervention requests from
seafarers either.
Reiterating the
plight of Goan seafarers aboard cruise and merchant vessels, Frank Viegas,
president of the Goa Seamen Association of India (GSAI), wants shipping
companies to compensate with extra money to those seafarers who are still on
duty despite their contracts coming to an end.
“Maritime labour law
does not allow for contracts to be more than a year at a time and some of these
seamen have been sailing already for 8-9 months and were looking forward to the
rest,” says Viegas.
He wants the
companies to also give the sailing crew higher bandwidth and free internet and
calling facilities “so that they can be in touch with their families who are
very anxious about them”. He urges the state government to also intervene with
shipping companies on behalf of the seamen.
Chirag Bahri,
director of regions at ISWAN (The International Seafarers Welfare and
Assistance Network), says the UK-based charity has taken up with the Indian
government the matter of seamen stranded at ports.
“If ships are not
going to run properly, world trade will stop. And ships are run by seamen, who
have to be treated properly,” Bahri says as a matter of fact.
Urging seamen, who
are onboard vessels, to “remain calm, maintain hygiene and de-stress for their
own safety”, he says, “They have to remember that they are doing this job for
the sake of their families who are waiting for them to return safely.”
(Names of all the affected have been changed to protect their identity.)