MARGAO
Goan Seamen Association of India (GSAI) President Frank Viegas said the government should immediately constitute the competent Authority so that the benefits of vaccination flow to the intended beneficiaries.
While welcoming the decision of the Modi government in granting relaxation in vaccination duration for 2nd dose of Covishield vaccine to 28 days, Frank said this relaxation will benefit persons who are seeking to undertake international travel for employment opportunities abroad which includes seafarers.
“This proactive decision will greatly benefit seafarers from all over India thereby protecting jobs of Indian seafarers who were on the verge of losing their livelihoods if not for this timely intervention by our Government of Goa in the interest of seafarers’ community. There was a lot of fear, anxiety and apprehension amongst our seafarer community and this decision couldn’t have arrived at a better time,” he said.
He thanked Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, the Health Minister, NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar and others for the decision. “It is indeed a feeling of achievement and great satisfaction to see the efforts of GSAI and our Goan seafaring community bear fruits of all the hard work that was put in,” he added.
Addressing the media, the GSAI president also highlighted the issue of seafarers’ welfare pension scheme for retired and widows which has been stopped since October 2019. “We had hopes that the retired seamen and the widows will get the pension after the Chief Minister’s intervention, but till date nothing has been done on the issue,” he said.
GSAI vice-president, Gabriel Pinto and treasurer Santan Pereira also briefed the media.
