Bangladeshi seafarers, who were not allowed to travel without police escort to and from Indian airports after signing off from or to get into ships in seaports there, will now be able to travel without the escort.

Bangladeshi mariners will enjoy the escort-free journeys between Indian airports and seaports following a decision by the neighbouring country that came in the wake of long persuasions by the Bangladesh government.

Bangladesh considers that the exemption would encourage foreign ship-owners to employ more Bangladeshi seafarers.

“The Indian authorities exempted the Bangladeshi seafarers, for the first time, from escorting to airports in India after they had signed

off from the ships in Indian sea-ports,” a foreign ministry press release said yesterday.

“The High Commission of India in Dhaka, through a note verbale (official communication), informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh that the Ministry of Home Affairs of India had issued instructions to the authorities concerned in this regard,” it said.

The foreign ministry took up the matter with the Indian side several times and lately, during the visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India in April, it added.

Earlier in many of the Indian ports, except for ports in West Bengal, Bangladesh seafarers, despite carrying CDC (Continuous Discharge Certificate) and machine-readable identity document, were not allowed to join vessels or return to Bangladesh after signing off the vessels without immigration police escort to the nearest sea-ports, said the release.