The Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj, comes to the aid of Indians stranded outside the country quite readily. So when she was sent an SOS message from two ships in UAE, where 41 Indian sailors are stranded in sinking ships, she came to their aid immediately.
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On Monday, she tweeted, "We have contacted the captains of the two vessels, ship owners, port authorities and the government. They have essential supplies for next two weeks. We are helping in the settlement of their dues and release of the crew. I have asked the mission to ensure that Indian sailors do not suffer for want of essential supplies."
There are 41 Indian sailors employed in four merchant ships in the UAE, which deal in import and export of oil. Two of the ships are leaking and are in danger of sinking. To make matters worse, the owner of the company seems to have abandoned the crew.
The sailors are from across India — Delhi, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarkhand, Punjab, Harayana, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu, Karnataka and Kerala.
They had tweeted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swaraj and MoS MEA VK Singh.
"Please, I want my husband to be rescued. We have a 17-month-old son," Janet Goli, wife of G Rajesh, captain of a ship told TOI from Mumbai.
Their passports had been confiscated by the owner, said Captain Rajesh, and their salaries were pending for several months. Some of the sailors weren't paid for 15 months. The ships were anchored at Ajman anchorage in UAE and the crew just had dal, rice and enough water for consumption, but not for bathing.
One sailor Ananya Pratap Singh said: "Our ships are riddled with holes. We also don't have diesel to run a generator." Another sailor, Rahul Singh, tweeted to the Prime Minister saying that they have not been paid for 15 months.
Swaraj, while she is helpful to all citizens in distress, chided a software developer working in SAP labs in Pune for tweeting to her asking for his wife's (who works in Jhansi railway) transfer.
"If you or your wife were from my Ministry and such a request for transfer was made on twitter, I would have sent a suspension order by now," she responded to Smit Raj.
He had tweeted: "Can u plz help us in ending our banwas in India? My wife is in Jhansi Rly employee and I work in Pune in IT. Been a year+."
