In a massive show of strength, around 18,000-odd tourist taxis went off the road despite government invoking Essential Services Maintenance Act and warnings of serious consequences. The effect of the strike was felt far and wide despite government pushing in KTC and private vehicles with several passengers left stranded at railway stations and Dabolim airport, with hotels being the worst hit.
The strike has put the big revenue churner, the tourism industry, on its knees. Along with that, political voices have begun feeling the heat. In a marked departure from his earlier stance, Michael Lobo now appealed to the operators to come to the negotiating table. The Calangute MLA had on earlier occasions threatened to take to the streets if the taxi issues were not resolved. Can Lobo explain how this paradigm shift in his posture came about? Goa Tourism Development Corporation chairperson Nilesh Cabral threatened “hard action” by introducing Ola-Uber type services in Goa if the operators don’t mend their ways. And finally, take a bow, Transport minister Sudin Dhavalikar has broken his vow of silence. He had never shown any interest in solving the taxi tangle so far, but this time around he has woken up from his slumber and threatened to go hard on the taxi operators, saying strike is illegal and without prior notice.
The tourist taxi issue has been raging on for long and an amicable solution through dialogue is the urgent need of the hour. The demands of the operators need to be addressed and cannot be shot down without any interactions. Implementation of speed governors has been made mandatory and it is a fact that there is no alternative on that count. But again, mechanisms need to be worked out before going ahead with any new system, given the fact that Goa is relatively new to speed governors. Currently there is no system to check even the authenticity of speed governors. The transport department cannot get tough and show arrogance at this stage.
Why the taxis go into an overdrive, the question that would come to haunt is why was the government in cruise mode all this while? If taxis are charging exorbitant money, why were there no regulatory mechanisms worked out? Why were licenses issued unscrupulously? Now that the licenses have been issued, is it not the government’s job to provide a level playing field to carry out their business?
Confrontational attitude towards the operators will not help the cause. It is for the government to sit with the operators and draw the line. Threatening to bring in services on the lines of Ola and Uber at this point in time will only aggravate the situation. If at all a new system is being worked out, it should accommodate the Goan tourist taxi operators in its model. The tourist taxis have continued to be one of the frontiers of Goenkarponn and any attempts to puncture them will deal a telling blow to a service on which thousands of Goan families are making their living. The tourist taxi operators may be dictating an uneven narrative, but it is for the government to ignore all lobbies that lie within and chart out an amicable route.
