Goa government deserts seafarers marooned at sea. Declaring zones is not akin to traffic signals - By Nisser Dias

On 14^th April 2020, more than 100 British tourists were leaving Goa for England on a special charter flight arranged by its government at the same time Indian prime minister Narendra Modi was addressing the nation to extend the lockdown by another two weeks.

The same afternoon hordes of migrant labourers converged at Bandra railway station in Mumbai to travel back to their homeland.

The English tourists and Indian migrants wanted to be at home with their families and loved ones.

For almost a month now, Goan seafarers stranded on cruise liners and vessels in deep seas. Their pleas to be brought home has fallen on deaf ears of the BJP government in Goa and at the centre.

Worse still domestic cruise liner which sailed to Goa with 93 Goan sailors were refused to disembark and sent back to Mumbai to be quarantined and continue to live on the vessel.

How insensitive can this BJP government be? In England more than 10,000 people have lost their lives to corona virus. But their government is making all the arrangement to take their citizens back to their country.

Maharashtra and Mumbai in particular has the highest number of deaths and Covid-19 positive cases in the country, knowingly Goa government refuses our seafarers entry into the own land.

Goa was in better situation to quarantine these seafarers. It seems very obvious that the ministers in the government had a hidden agenda and want to extract their pound of flesh from the helpless Goans.

Goa has been under lockdown and curfew since 22^nd March 2020. Was this not the best time to bring in the seafarers from all over the world and quarantine them? But our dim-witted chief minister of Goa Pramod Sawant did not think so. How will the non-Goan CM of Goa ever have feelings for Goans?

If at all there is pucca Covidiot in Goa, it is the CM. He is in a tearing hurry to manage to the statistics to show minimum deaths and positive cases.

A day after Prime minister’s 3rd appearance since the outbreak of the virus, Sawant has declared south Goa as green zone.

This inefficient chief minister should have first brought back the seafarers, quarantined and treated them and then declare it as green zone. Does he even know how much seafarers contribute to the economy that too holding on to the finance portfolio? I doubt it.

Pramod Sawant should have had the least common sense that declaring red, orange green zones and not akin to changing traffic signal lights. He should have been very cautious of it.

He should have brought all our seafarers who are waiting for government’s intervention to bring them home, quarantined and treated them before declaring zones.

The bunch of jokers including the chief clown governing the state should have accepted the advice and used the experience of Captain Venzy Viegas, Dixon Vaz and others to carry out the exercise of bringing the seafarers back.

The detailed document presented to the government and to the defunct NRI Commissioner Narendra Sawaikar should have been should have been put to good use. The document spelt out minute nitty-gritties like which batch of seafarers should be brought in first, what they should wear while boarding and alighting the flight. They had chalked out programmes for sailors while in quarantine and lot many other points.

But this obsolete and useless chief minister washed off his hands and threw the ball in union government’s court.

Pramod Sawant has made more than his nest in Goa, but he does not know what family means to Goans. Parents, wives, children are living in fear as the seafarers have not been brought home by the government.

Nisser Dias

Shipping companies have offered to charter flights for seafarers to be brought home without any expense to the ex-chequer. The government has to only open the airport. Captain Viegas, Dixon and other have offered help to engage the seafarers in obeying the medical procedures but the government refuses it.

What is the hidden agenda of this government – score brownie points in the eyes of prime minister by showing him Goa did not any deaths, that the state has fought corona virus with financial assistance from the centre.

Non Goan chief minister of Goa should realize that the worst is yet to come. We have not yet reached the peak, we are not yet done with the virus. Our economy is in shambles, unemployment due to this pandemic has gone through the roof, tourism is already hit and gloom hovers over next tourism season. Education system is affected and will have to be brought on track. There is lot more to do and I do not think that this government led by the incompetent chief minister has the foresight and insight to do it.