Country's largest shipping trade union, National Union of Seafarers of India (NUSI) has sought financial assistance from Ministry of Shipping for training of maritime workforce in oil exploration activities.
General Secretary of Union Abdulgani Serang said NUSI has sought financial aid and incentives from the Ministry through National Shipping Board for training the maritime workforce at NUSI Offshore Training Institute (NOTI), currently operated by NUSI-ITF Trust.
NOTI trains workforce that operates specialised vessels or small-sized ships catering to various needs of oil exploration activities.
"I am extremely happy that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech stated to incentivise oil exploration activities across India's vast coastline. The government should also incentivise training of Indian maritime workforce needed for oil exploration activities," Serang said.
He said the union today sent a letter in this regard through the Board putting forth their demand.
"Currently, offshore maritime workforce catering to oil exploration activities is scarce in India, mainly due to the lack of world-class training facilities in our country," he said.
"We cannot, therefore, run into the risk of letting foreign maritime workforce fill the future vacancies, considering the fact that a boost is expected on the oil exploration front," Serang added.
