Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has alleged “complicity” by the Centre in the decision to allow a “special visa waiver” to Chinese workers to disembark from their ship for offloading cranes at the Vizhinjam port. The permission given to the Chinese workers was in “total violation” of security guidelines, he said on Friday.
“Has the PM elevated his close friends to the status of a super-state? Why are Chinese workers being allowed to work illegally for a firm that has been linked to global money-laundering networks operated by Adani associates like Chang Chung-Ling and Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli?” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on X.
Following requests
Initially, Chinese technicians aboard the cargo ship Zhen Hua 15, carrying cranes for the port, were not given permission to come ashore at Vizhinjam. Following requests by the Adani Group, which is building the port, and the State government, the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) had permitted three crew members to disembark under the supervision of two immigration officers.
Mr. Ramesh noted that the Home Ministry allowed temporary landing permits to seamen and crew for specific purposes. However, the guidelines note that ‘no landing permit facility shall be granted to a national of Afghanistan, China, Ethiopia, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia or Sri Lanka and foreign nationals of Pakistan origin even if he/she is transiting through India and has a confirmed onward journey ticket,’ he said.
