Dubai: The Indian Consulate in Dubai has issued an advisory about unscrupulous shipping companies and agents following a huge number of complaints received recently from Indian seafarers in distress in the UAE waters.
For the first time, the mission has named and shamed repeated offenders so that sailors do not fall into trouble with them again.
The consulate on its website — www.cgidubai.org — has also advised the sailors to apply due diligence before accepting an employment offer to work on these ships and not to get recruited through unscrupulous agents.
The mission said a number of cases of Indian seafarers in distress on ships had been brought to the attention of the mission in the past few months.
According to the mission, the complaints received from the seafarers included non-payment of salaries for several months, bad working conditions, inadequate supply of food, water and bunker (fuel), delays in sign-off and absence of proper medical care.
“The consulate has been providing assistance wherever it can and has also apprised local authorities about these cases for their early resolution. A number of cases have been resolved with the helpful intervention of the Federal Transport Authority (FTA) of the UAE,” it said.
Gulf News had first reported about 97 Indian sailors stranded aboard 22 ships in the UAE waters seeking help from the mission in the recent months.
Earlier this week, this newspaper also reported about 53 out of the 97 sailors returning home after persistent efforts by the mission in cooperation with the FTA and missions of flag countries like the Panama Consulate in Dubai.
On Wednesday, social worker Girish Pant, who has been actively involved in relief efforts for stranded sailors, said five crew members of the Abdul Razak and three others from the Al Nader flew home on Tuesday after receiving full payment of their pending salaries.
In the advisory, the consulate listed the names of the shipping company owners and agents against whom it had received several complaints in the past few months.
“It has also come to the notice of the consulate that in a majority of cases, Indian seafarers have been recruited on these ships through unscrupulous agents in India who are not registered with the Ministry of Shipping, GOI [Government of India],” the mission said.
Due diligence urged
“It is advised that the seafarers should do due diligence before accepting an employment offer to work on ships and in any case should not get recruited through unscrupulous agents.
“In case the seafarers fall into distress, they should immediately file complaints with appropriate authorities in India (Ministry of Shipping and police) against the agents who recruited them. They should also bring it to the attention of the consulate which will refer the issue to the UAE authorities,” the consulate urged the sailors.
It also warned the seafarers that they should only take up jobs through authorised RPSL agents [agents with Recruitment and Placement Services Licence mandated by the Director-General of Shipping for authorised recruiters and agents in India] in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Shipping.
“They could also seek advice of the consulate regarding recruiting company/agent in Dubai and Northern Emirates by sending an email on cons1.dubai@mea.gov.in and cons3.dubai@mea.gov.in, ” the advisory added.
Tightening rules
Speaking to Gulf News, Consul-General of India in Dubai Vipul said the consulate had put the unscrupulous owners and agents on notice because it did not want any more sailors to get recruited by those people with extremely bad track records.
“We do not wish sailors to fall in trouble again and in future they should not complain that we did not alert them against these guys.”
He said the Ministry of External Affairs had already taken up these matters with the Ministry of Shipping and officials were working on tightening up rules of recruitment of sailors and ways to take legal actions against the crooked agents and owners.
“We will have more power to take action against them if the sailors file police complaints [in India] and seek injunction on them through the court,” said Vipul.
