The 12-member panel set up by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to go into the grievances raised by taximen has a job on its hands. It comprises six MLAs, representatives of taxi associations and top bureaucrats. How such a large committee is going to arrive at a consensus is debatable, but they have been tasked with arriving at a solution or a series of recommendations or both, in a time frame of four weeks. This exercise will be followed by a meeting between the chief minister and representatives of
the taxi association. The demand made by the taxi association is, halt licences to rent-a-car operators and stop illegal renting of cars. These are fairly simple demands and one does not understand how 12 men will find a middle path, if it exists. What the government
has merely done is postpone the day of reckoning to the end of the season, after which the monsoons will arrive, and if the Met department is right it will be a heavy one.
The next time this issue is going to raise its head will be in October or November. So maybe, just maybe, the whole purpose is to postpone rather than resolve, but that
would be like putting the cart before the horse. There is a large section of people
who want the taximen to be shown their place. They hate the ‘dadagiri’, the arm-twisting, the unregulated fares and the lack of a cheaper alternatives. They will compare Goa
with Mumbai where the meter is king and ask why the same
cannot be implemented here. They might be right, but up to
a point.
Firstly, Goa is not a metro like Mumbai, it is a tourist destination.
Secondly, no one really knows how much taxi owners
make a day or a month. Do they have savings to fall back on in
a bad season or post retirement? If, for instance tourism were
to drop out of the bottom, will they be paid compensation like
the mining truck owners? They might be unruly on the road,
break rules and honk like there is no tomorrow.
But like everybody else they also want a secure livelihood
and when a new player threatens to make a dent in their earnings,
they get restive. And one can understand their state of
mind, but up to a point.
The taxi trade needs to be protected and the Chief Minister
was not wrong when he said their demands are genuine. Believe
it or not, taximen around the world would not have any
problem in supporting them because their demands are universal.
Taximen all over the world are facing competition from
rent-a-cars and app-based organisations. If they have survived
this long it is because they are a united lot and that alone indicates
that the fear of losing business is widespread. You can’t
sweep this fear under a carpet.
But the real challenge is how much taximen are willing to
give in order to protect their business. Are they willing to install
meters and agree on a fare? In the alternative, will they
consider pre-paid counters at every point. If single window
ticketing could be implemented for water sports why can’t the
same be extended to taxis? If they want protection then they
have to give in to some regulation. Taximen cannot have their
cake and eat it too.
