MARGAO
There’s good news for the four lakh merchant navy seafarers working on both Indian and foreign flagships.
The Board of Trustees of the Seamen’s Provident Fund under the Chairmanship of Amitabh Kumar, Director General of Shipping, finally agreed to extend the benefit of provident fund, gratuity and pension to all ranks of more than four lakh merchant navy seafarers working on both Indian and foreign flag ships
National Union of Seafarers in India (NUSI) has termed the decision as a New Year gift to more than four lakh (all ranks) merchant navy seafarers.
NUSI General Secretary-cum-Treasurer Abdulgani Y Serang said the demand for PF, gratuity and pension for seafarers has been accepted.
Appreciating Shipping Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and the PM for having agreed to the long pending demand, Abdulgani said seafarers and their families are happy.
“It was in 1963, that NUSI led an agitation of merchant navy seafarers and protested outside the Indian Parliament in New Delhi. Merchant navy seafarers were angry as they were kept out of the purview of the Employees Provident Fund, Act, 1952. The agitation resulted in the enactment of the exclusive Seamen’s Provident Fund Act, 1966 for merchant navy seafarers,” he said.
While the provident fund for seafarers is in the statute for Indian flag ships, the gratuity and pension is still a bilateral arrangement between NUSI and the ship owners as per the Collective Bargaining Agreement. For nearly two decades, NUSI has been demanding three benefits of provident fund, gratuity and pension to become a statute for all ranks of seafarers i.e. officers, petty officers, ratings, others serving on both Indian and foreign flag ships.
Abdulgani said on the instructions of NUSI, more than 25,000 seafarers had petitioned to the Prime Minister during the Covid-19 pandemic last year. “We are very pleased to inform you on January 11, 2021, in the 137th meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Seamen’s Provident Fund under the Chairmanship of Amitabh Kumar, Director General of Shipping, it was finally agreed to extend the benefits to all ranks of more than four lakh merchant navy seafarers working on both Indian and foreign flag ships,” he added.
