Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: In a major cost-cutting measure, the Goa government has outsourced operations on nine of the state’s 18 ferry routes to the Goa Recruitment and Employment Society (GRES), a state-run non-profit body. The River Navigation Department (RND) will, however, retain control over fuel supply and vessel maintenance.
According to RND Director Vikram Rajebhosale, the decision marks the first major structural reform in the department’s operations in nearly 60 years. Traditionally, ferries were manned in two shifts, requiring frequent overtime payouts to staff. The new three-shift model, managed by GRES, removes the need for overtime and is expected to bring down the department’s wage burden significantly.
“Each ferry earlier cost the government around Rs 8–9 lakh a month in staff salaries alone. Under the new arrangement, we are spending just Rs 3.3 lakh per ferry per month,” Rajebhosale said. With 11 ferries now running under this system, the state is saving roughly Rs 66 lakh every month, in addition to Rs 3–4 crore in annual overtime expenses.
The transition began on October 1 and was implemented in phases, without a formal tendering process, as the outsourcing was to a government-affiliated agency. Despite its financial prudence, the move is expected to face opposition from ferry staff losing overtime benefits.
RND’s annual revenue stands at around Rs 1 crore, against an expenditure of nearly Rs 80 crore. The outsourcing initiative, Rajebhosale explained, will help reduce the department’s deficit by about Rs 14 crore a year. “We have tried to balance financial responsibility with staff welfare and consulted both the workers’ union and our internal teams before going ahead,” he added.
The state government sees this as a pilot model for modernizing ferry operations, aiming for improved efficiency without burdening public finances.
