The taxi issue came up in the House on Thursday with Siolim constituency MLA Delilah Lobo seeking the release of subsidy on digital meters to the remainder of taxis, and in the process also questioned the government on how the contractor for digital meters was finalised. Benaulim constituency MLA Venzy Viegas informed the House that tourists were not preferring meters because they are not programmed and calibrated on various parameters resulting in faulty billing that, in many cases, was much higher than normal.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant stated that the digital meters are not being used by taxis and are being covered from the view of tourists. Sawant, however, expressed his inability to keep a tab on errant taxi owners and challan them, exposing a failure of enforcement. When discipline and a new order are introduced, the lack of policing is the least one would expect, especially against the backdrop of what was witnessed thus far.
The government should have cracked the whip and set up a mechanism instead of expressing helplessness. There has to be a complaint desk to register feedback from tourists against taxis. Action has to be taken, including suspension of licences, if digital meters are not used for billing. It appears that the government has just gone through the motion of getting the digital meters installed because there was a court mandate, and offered subsidies out of sheer pressure. It has failed miserably in implementation. The CM's helplessness tells the story, and the plan of installing digital meters has become largely an exercise in futility.
While the government’s decision to go for app-based aggregators is welcome, the reluctance of the Opposition benches to that move was as clear as daylight. If we may recall, Venzy floated a strange concept of allowing resorts to use their app for taxis. The government has to move on, and invite app-based taxi aggregators but only after taking into confidence various stakeholders. The livelihoods of our taxi owners must be factored in before driving any change. The mess that is on display even with digital meters cannot go on forever.
The bottom line is that Goa needs better tourist transport systems, and the visitor must have options at hand. We cannot continue with a situation where the taxi owner complains about meters or refuses to use them, and the government says it is helpless about the situation. This must stop, the earlier the better.
In another Thursday's development in the Legislative Assembly, the Speaker of the House Ramesh Tawadkar adjourned the morning session well before lunchtime because the NDA presidential candidate Dropaudi Murmu was in town. This is surprising and unprecedented because legislative business has been suspended for a presidential candidate's visit without prior notice. We understand that by a brute majority the BJP is calling the shots, but bringing an abrupt adjournment without an intimation is obnoxious and disrespectful of the Opposition.
