Asked Shripad to take up stranded seafarers’ issue with PM: Kamat

Margao: The Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Monday said that he has spoken to the North Goa MP and Minister of State for Ayush (IC) Shripad Naik urging him to take up the issue of Goan seafarers, who are stranded on ships, with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Kamat, speaking through a video message, said that he has also urged the NRI commissioner Narendra Sawaikar to immediately take steps to ensure safety of the stranded seafarers by taking up the issue with the Ministry of External Affairs.

“The Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should also take serious note of the matter and it is the duty of the Goa government to keep the families of the stranded seafarers updated. There are shocking reports that many Goan seafarers are stranded on the ships due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.

“They are not allowed to disembark the ships nor provided with medical help and other facilities. Many countries are not allowing their ships to dock at their ports. These Goan seafarers have contributed positively to the economic growth and foreign exchange earnings of the state,” he said.

Meanwhile, former tourism minister Francisco Xavier Pacheco alias Mickky also demanded with the state government to bring back stranded Goan seafarers stating that they were living in fear on the ships in the wake of coronavirus pandemic.

He further said that if the government does not have facilities to keep 7000-odd stranded seafarers in quarantine, he was ready to make the arrangements for the seafarers of Benaulim and Nuvem constituency. In his video massage, Pacheco also demanded that the government should withdraw the fishing ban immediately in Goa as the people of the state were forced to eat formalin-laced fish stored in cold storage.