Baalu expresses concern over shortage of officers for Indian vessels

New Delhi, Dec 18 (UNI) Expressing concern over the acute shortage of trained personnel to man the ships under Indian Flag, Shipping, Road Transport and Highways Minister T R Baalu today said a time-bound action plan should be prepared immediately to tackle the issue head-on and effectively.

''Expeditious measures need to be taken to reduce the shortage of the officers to man the Indian Flag Vessels,'' Mr Baalu said, addressing the special general meeting of the Indian Institute of Maritime Studies (IIMS) here.

The meeting was called to pave the way for carrying out amendments to the Memorandum of Association and Rules and Regulation of IIMS, which were required for removal of certain anomalies, inconsistencies and ambiguities and to make provisions to take care of the requirements relating to formation of the Indian Maritime University (IMU).

Mr Baalu also said the formalities of setting up the IMU, to be headquartered at Chennai, were under way and for this purpose, 300 acres of land had already been transferred to the Department of Shipping.

He said the proposed Maritime University would be a world class institution and would have its campuses at Mumbai, Kolkata and Visakhapatnam.

An expert committee, consisting of academicians and administrators from the Government and Industry, has been constituted which meets regularly to devise course curriculum and to address other requirements for setting up of the University.

Mr Baalu said the world shipping industry was going through a metamorphosis in terms of both the port facilities and corresponding development in the shipbuilding and designing activities.

''The Indian shipping industry has to rise itself to such a level where it would stand at the same pedestal as that of the other maritime nations of the world,'' he added.

On the occasion, the Committee on Promotion of Maritime Employment also submitted its report for consideration of the government which, among other things, has given its recommendations on measures to attract youth, particularly rural youth, to join Merchant Navy as a career.

The report also includes measures to meet the shortage of officers faced by the Indian Shipping as well as to avail opportunities available in the global market due to shortage of officers so as to create employment opportunities in the country.

The committee noted with concern that there was a shortage of sea time berths to absorb the number of pre-sea officers, which had created a pool of trainees waiting for sea time slots.

It recommended that the quantitative focus needed to shift off increasing cadet intake in pre-sea training institutions to creating more sea time training slots.

On the setting up of the IMU, the committee observed that it would go a long way in improving and sustaining the standards of maritime education in the country.

''Once the IMU is set up, the management of examinations, faculty training, curriculum development and other educational processes will pass on to the IMU for all the pre-sea courses, leaving the DGS with a reduced and more manageable responsibility of GP Rating course, post-sea course and value-added courses,'' it said.

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