MARGAO: The Goa Seamen Association of India (GSAI) has objected to the 10 dollar welfare fund which has been proposed to be deducted from all the Indian Crew members working on ships overseas.
Claiming the welfare fund collection of 10 dollars and others is a big fraud by NUSI, the GSAI has alleged that the deduction won’t have any benefit to the Seamen of India. The GSAI has demanded collection of the welfare fund by the Ministry and not by any middlemen agency. The GSAI will write to the central minister to immediately stop the deductions.
Taking objection to the deduction, GSAI said that there is an order of the Director General of Shipping stating that the $ 10 towards welfare funds are to be paid by the hiring company and not the Seamen themselves. “The facilities and benefits given by NUSI for all these years against the deductions are useless and we object to further cheating by way of deductions,” GSAI said.
“The contribution of 10$ per person every month will be around 70$ per year which will be deducted from more than 50,000 Indian crew which is a huge amount when converted into Indian Rupees. Round about 350 thousand dollars will be collected which is crores of rupees if converted in Indian currency which is huge money compared to the services seamen will get for that,” GSAI President Dixon Vaz said.
