Shipping activists have claimed that double standards maintained by the directorate general (shipping) is encouraging fake agents to continue with placements rackets for employment on cargo ships in Iran, even as fake agents rampantly lure youths with jobs.
The agents are recruiting candidates with shipping companies that the directorate general (DG) does not allow. Activists claim that the shipping ministry has given a licence to only 358 shipping companies, but around 200 illegal shipping companies are operating and there is no appropriate agency to monitor the miscreants.
“In case of Palash Balsetwar, he was working with MV Mashhour, a 32-year-old ship which is an open invitation to accidents. In technical terms, they are known as junk ships,” said captain Sanjay Prashar, managing director, VR Marinetime Services, who also works as a shipping activist.
According to Mr Prashar, as the profession is niche and the number of people affected is small, the issues go unnoticed.
The illicit business is worth Rs 600 crore. For every job available, there are four unemployed candidates. There is a capacity of 4,500 at institutes where jobs are available only for 800 deck cadets. In 2014, DG (shipping) had issued an order that only company-sponsored cadets could get admission to the merchant navy course.
“However, despite guidelines issued by the DG (shipping), agents take the benefit of the immigration department not knowing these guidelines. There is no coordination among multiple government bodies. Also, there is no one to keep a watch on the culture of advertisements by fake agents and a broker for placement which is start point for fraud,” said Mr Prashar.
Manoj Yadav, general secretary, Forward Sea Men’s Union of India, said, “Certain seamen associations will submit a memorandum to the Union shipping ministry to propose certain time-bound corrective measures to curb the illegal sea-farer trafficking by anti-social elements just to earn a few lakhs.”
A similar case came to light on March 20, 2016 where Mr Prashar filed a complaint with DG (shipping) that a sailor named Ranjit Singh (23) had gone missing in Iran from February 10 this year. Mr Singh hails from Punjab. The agent who fetched Mr Singh the job is missing and no help has been
rendered to the family by the ministry of external affairs or the Indian High Commission in Tehran.
