Crew on strike, passengers of luxury ships stranded

Crew on strike, passengers of luxury ships stranded

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Jan 11: Two ships “Dweepsethu” and “MV Minicoy,” which were scheduled to leave the Mangalore harbour on Jan 10 and Jan 11, respectively, have not yet left.

 

 

 

 

 

A passenger of “Dweepsethu” told Mangalore Today that the crew members were on strike to protest the death of one of their coworkers, adding that this has put the passengers into a lot of inconvenience. Stating that they have no money, he said that the Lakshadweep Development Corporation Ltd. (LDC) have not even provided them food and accommodation.

Contractor Billal Moideen said that a crew member of Lakshadweep Development Corporation Ltd., Shameem Yusuf Ali (40) died at Ernakulum on Jan 9 at 3:00 p.m. of cardiac arrest. However, the LDC has failed to take responsibility of the dead body, owing to which the crew members protested against the LDC for its irresponsibility toward the staff members. The staff of Cochin Port, Mangalore Port, and Bepur Port are supporting the protestors and have stopped all cargo and passenger ships for 3 days, he said.

Stating that passengers have booked tickets for Jan 10 and Jan 11 and are requesting the LCD authorities to provide them food and accommodation within the ships, he said that the LCD officials have not received any instruction regarding the matter from the authorities.

Modern Transport proprietor Asif Azad, the transport agent of the ship, said that LCD Collector Dr. Vasanth Kumar is due to reach Cochin at 2:30 p.m. and that he will take the decision on the matter. Simultaneously, enquiry will be conducted in this regard, he added.