The Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed around 7,000 Indian seafarers/crew employed on cruise ships and stranded across the globe to return home on repatriation flights run by Air India.
The permission followed a Shipping Ministry request in this regard. The seafarers and their families have been pushing the government to facilitate this task.
Shamim Ahmad, Under Secretary (Immigration), Ministry of Home Affairs, in a May 13 office memorandum wrote : “It is requested that Ministry of Shipping may ensure that all these 7000-odd Indian seafarers/Indian crew members are duly registered on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Web Portal meant for such stranded Indians in need of repatriation. The nearest Indian Mission may put them in the appropriate repatriation flight as provided in the MHA standard operating procedures (SOP) dated 5 May 2020.”
