Around 8,000 sailors stranded abroad, talks on with MHA: Goa CM

One of the biggest issues concerning Goa amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis is that nearly 7,000 to 8,000 Goan sailors are stranded in different ports-of-call and ships across the world, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said on Tuesday.

He said that he had already spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the issue and said that modalities about how to tackle the issue are yet to be worked out in absence of a concrete decision.

"Seafarers is one of the biggest issues. I am concerned about them. There are around 7,000 to 8,000 Goan sailors abroad. I spoke to the Home Minister about how to get them back and where to quarantine (once they return)," Sawant said at a press conference.

The sailors have been unable to return to Goa on account of the shutdown of international travel because of the Covid-19 crisis.

"Till now, a decision has not been made. Many parents, guardians, they are writing to me and sending me messages by WhatsApp, but we cannot write to everyone personally," the Chief Minister said, that a decision on the issue would be arrived at in a couple of days.

He also said, that the state government was also communicating with the Ministry for External Affairs, through the Goa government's Non Resident Commission, an agency which liaises with the Goan expat community as well as sailors of Goan origin. IANS