mumbai three seafarers have not been able to leave their boats docked at the mumbai port for more than a year and a half they have been forced to live on two tugboats tag rajvir and tag laxmi which are caught in liquidation proceedings the three are not being allowed to sign off from these boats to seek employment elsewhere one of the three had contracted dengue and has recoveredtag offshore the firm that owns the two boats went bankrupt and liquidation proceedings were initiated against it after the matter was heard before the national company law tribunal nclt four of the seafarers sahabaz khan 23 dipankar vishwas 25 jwala singh patel 27 and manas hait 29were asked to stay back to man the boats till the liquidation process was completed khan an oiler on tag rajvir said he had joined the firm in december 2018 and his contract ended in may 2019 senior officers of the boats were allowed to sign off we were asked to wait and told that some procedures had to be completed nclt had asked the interim resolution professional irp to give us basic amenities and salaries subsequently sudip bhattacharya was appointed as the resolution professional rp but our salaries and money for food expenses have become irregular over the past few months even drinking water was not being provided and we were supplied tanker water which could be used only for cleaning purposes we are caught in a situation where nobody is enabling our signoff without which we cannot leave the port meanwhile patel was sent to a relatives residence after he fell ill we have written to various authorities including dg shipping but to no availmanoj joy of sailors welfare association ensured hait was admitted to a hospital for dengue treatment for a while he said according to maritime conventions the crew cannot be on a ship beyond 11 months bhattacharya said every liquidator has to follow certain procedures salaries may be pending for one or two months but we have to be given some time i cannot pay from my own pocket the present owners of the ship have to contribute sanjay prashar member national shipping board said port authorities have to ensure there are no human rights violations dg shipping amitabh kumar was not available for comment