TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: The Opposition may see red over the populist budget presented by Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Wednesday.
But, the chief minister has won accolades from the Goan seafarers under the banner of Goan Seafarers Association of India (GSAI), which has hailed the budget for making a provision to fund the Seafarers Welfare Scheme.
“We are happy that the chief minister has increased the grant for the Seafarers welfare scheme from Rs 1 crore to Rs 3 crore. This only goes to prove that the chief minister has kept his promise and is working for the seamen community,” remarked GSAI President Dixon Vaz.
He pointed out that a welfare scheme has been a long pending demand of the retired seamen, reminding that the seafarers were forced to run from pillar to post, but the previous government did nothing to assist them.
Vaz said GSAI is glad that the present government has an open door policy for the seamen community, unlike the previous Digambar Kamat government, which never even made any attempt to formulate some kind of scheme for the seafarers.
Meanwhile, GSAI has appealed to the chief minister to set up a Seafarers cell in Goa. “This cell is the need of the hour because in last few years there have been so many deaths, accidents and loss of jobs, but there has been no assistance from the hiring agents and companies, thus becoming difficult for the families to get assistance since there was no proper office which knows the maritime laws,” he added.
