Kamat meets Guv on Goan sailors issue

Panaji, May 6 (IANS) Leader of Opposition Digambar Kamat on Wednesday met Goa Governor Satya Pal Malik and sought his intervention to allow Goan sailors on board two cruiseliners anchored at Mumbai port for several weeks to disembark.

“Those on one ship have already disembarked. Two ships are still there. But there is no clarity,” Kamat told reporters after his meeting with Malik at the Raj Bhavan.

“The Goa government says they are willing to bring the seafarers back. But the ships are not letting them disembark. We have urged the Governor to talk to Delhi authorities and find a way out,” the Congress leader said.

Around 60 Goan seafarers from one of the three ships, Marella Discovery, have already been ferried to Goa and are in government quarantine facilities.

More than 150 sailors onboard the remaining two ships are still waiting to travel to their home state for more than two weeks now.

Kamat said that he had requested the Governor to impress upon the Goa government to offer state quarantine facilities to the returning seafarers free of cost.

“The government has already taken a decision that Goans coming back from other parts of the country will not be charged for quarantine. We have welcomed the decision. The same yardstick should be applied to seafarers who are coming back home,” Kamat said, adding that some of the returning seafarers have not been paid their ages for two months.

–IANS

maya/tsb