Team Herald
MARGAO: Goan Seamen Association of India has written to the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, all the MLAs and MPs from Goa, regarding the action of Director General (DG) of Shipping of barring Goan seafarers for five years from applying for Indian CDC.
Association Spokesman Dixon Vaz pointed out that the Director General of Shipping has barred many Goans from applying for Indian CDC for the next five years as their applications had forged SSC certificate or STCW certificates attached.
He said that many Goan seafarers who did not have SSC certificate used forged certificates for fear of losing their jobs as it was the only source of income and further added that some fly by night operators issued STCW certificates which are also mandatory.
The Director General of Shipping has blacklisted 20 institutes that were issuing false STCW certificates and Goan seafarers have obtained some of them and hence they have been barred from applying for Indian CDC for the next five years.
“These seamen will not be able to join service for five years and this will be a big blow to them and their families as many have in fact taken loans that have to be repaid,” Vaz said adding that his letter urges the elected representative to prevail upon the Director General for Shipping to reduce the ban to one year at least.
Vaz said that he would personally discuss the matter with the CM after Ganesh festival.
Meanwhile, the Association has also written to NUSI asking them to give priority to Goans for the STCW courses conducted by them at their Goa campus and pointed out that Leo Barnes who set up the institute in Goa wanted it to help Goan seafarers.
He pointed out that while there is a waiting period of about six months to get admission at NUSI in Goa for the course, seafarers come home on a vacation of only two months and hence cannot attend the courses in Goa.
Meanwhile, he also announced that 83 applications for Seafarers Pension Scheme that were pending for the last two years have been cleared and the applicants will get their pension from October 2019.
