PANAJI
The North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (NGTTOA) reiterated their stand against granting of licenses to members of the rent-a-cab association, and referred to the government’s stand as having taken a U-turn despite all their past assurances.
A delegation of members of the association along with Calangute MLA Michael Lobo met Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar and Transport Director Sunil Masurkar at the secretariat on Thursday to press for their demands.
“This government is known for its U-turns, so we wanted to make sure they are not going back on their word this time as well,” said the association's spokesperson, Bappa Korgaonkar.
He added that the members were serious on pressing for their demands after a strike that had seen around 15,000 taxis going off the road last month. Korgaonkar said the delegation had decided to wait for a month after the Minister forwarded the file to the respective department. The issue of fitting meters in vehicles was also taken up.
Last month, association members, including those from South Goa, caused problems for tourists as well as locals after they resorted to a taxi strike. For two days, yellow and black as well as AGT taxis were off the road, and only agreed to restore services after Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar promised to resolve their issues.
Parsekar had said that a 11-member committee would be formed comprising six MLAs including Michael Lobo, Caitu D’Silva, Glenn Ticlo, Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar, Transport Director Sudin Dhavalikar and Dayanand Mandrekar along with North and South SPs, North and South collectors and the Transport Director. According to Parsekar, the team will meet periodically, and within a matter of 4 weeks will come out with a solution with recommendations from each side.
Korgaonkar, however, said there was nothing positive done to resolve their issues as yet. Among their demands, the association has also asked for displaying taxi rates at prominent places, discontinuation of Kadamba bus services to and from the airport, and withdrawing of cases against ten association members.
