As barge Gal Constructor rusts, 137 people ‘safely rescued’ yet to get compensation

Gal Constructor was stationed near an oil rig in the south field of Bombay High on the night of May 14. Tugboat Varaprada brought it to outer anchorage in Raigad on May 16. While barge master Agnelo Rebello of Gal Constructor, whose statement was recorded by a high-level committee set up by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, wanted the two vessels to be brought inside the inner anchorage due to the upcoming cyclone, it was not permitted and the vessels had to stay put in outer anchorage.

Due to the cyclone, both Varaprada and Gal Constructor started drifting. While Varaprada sank, Gal Constructor drifted over 100 km to Palghar, where it ran aground. Luckily, all the 137 people on board the barge were rescued by the Navy.

On Tuesday, an officer from the Yellow Gate police station in Mumbai said that no FIR has been lodged into the incident as “none of the victims from Gal Constructor approached us”.

Many survivors from Gal Constructor, who spoke to The Indian Express, said they fear being blacklisted if they raise their voice. They said they are yet to receive any compensation or job or even their 15-day salary for last May.

A representative from Tirupati Vessels Pvt Ltd, which owns Gal Constructor, said they do not intend to give any compensation to the survivors, “as they have been rescued”. “The vessel was badly damaged… we are in the process of scrapping it, due to which we are facing financial issues,” the representative added. An official from Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, which had hired the vessel, said, “There was no loss of life or personal property on Gal Constructor.”

Today, the Gal Constructor continues to be stuck in the rocks at Vadrai near Palghar. After the Coast Guard described it as a cause of environmental pollution, oil from the barge was removed using booms. A fortnight ago, the Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) had given permission to the owners to remove the wreckage. The chief executive officer of MMB, Amit Saini, said, “We have allowed the vessel to be cut on the spot so that its parts can be removed.”

Among the 75 deceased on board P 305, 66 were Afcons employees, five were marine crew and four were ONGC staffers.

An excerpt from the official reply received from Afcons, which chartered P 305, said that “79 per cent (52 of 66 families) have already received ex-gratia payments” and “a corpus of Rs 12 crore has been disbursed so far”. Afcons also paid Rs 1 lakh each to the survivors from P 305. It is also running an education assistance program-me for the children of the victims.

The owner of Varaprada tugboat, Rajesh Shahi of Glory Shipping, said, “We have paid nine people and will be paying two others whose compensation is stuck due to court-related issues. We have paid each a sum between Rs 22 lakh to Rs 40 lakh depending on their post.” The two persons are yet to be paid, as they have approached the police and got an FIR lodged against the company.

Manoj Yadav of the Forward Seamen Union of India said they have approached the Bombay High Court seeking Rs 1 crore compensation for the kin of every deceased and Rs 20 lakh each for the injured.