the goan I network
MARGAO
Will the MLAs hailing from the seafarers-dominated constituencies, both ruling and in the opposition, take up cudgels for the retired seafarers and widows whose pension scheme has been discontinued?
Currently, the beleaguered seafaring community has no idea when it will receive the pension from the Social Welfare Department.
This question assumes significance and comes against the backdrop of the fact that as many as three ruling Salcete MLAs -- Filipe Neri Rodrigues, Wilfred D’Sa and Clafacio Dias -- are part of the BJP-led government and not to mention MLA Churchill Alemao, who is supporting the government from the outside.
The pension scheme for the retired seafarers and the widows, which was initiated by former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and run by the office of the NRI Commissioner, had ended on October 4, leaving the retired seafarers and the widows in a lurch.
The Office of the NRI Commissioner has said the file pertaining to the pension of the seafarers has been forwarded to the Social Welfare Department for the merger of this scheme with the DSSS.
The Goan understands that the Social Welfare Department has cleared the file and it is believed to have gone to the government for approval.
Sources say the Social Welfare Department has assessed the additional financial implications arising after the merger of the seafarers’ pension scheme with the DSSS.
Sources in the know say the role of the ruling MLAs from Salcete and outside, which has a significant presence of seafarers community, will come into play as they will have to convince the Chief Minister to sanction additional funds for the scheme.
“The role of the ruling MLAs is all the more important given that the retired seafarers and the widows have gone without pension for months now and there’s no possibility of they receiving it from next month,” sources added.
Meanwhile, the Goan Seamen Association of India (GSAI) spokesman Dixon Vaz has sought the intervention of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to release the pension.
He pointed out that retired seafarers and widows have not received the pension since October 2019 resulting in uncertainty in their minds. “Many retired seamen and widows are fully dependent on this scheme for their daily living, but this Christmas our retired seamen and widows have not much to celebrate,” Dixon said
He further pointed out that more than 80 retired seamen and widows have applied for the pension which has been approved since 2017. “In the past, we had requested the NRI office to release the pension but still there is no update and retired seamen and widows are yet to get their first pension amount,” he said, while seeking the Chief Minister’s intervention on the issue.
