MAPUSA
A tense situation prevailed outside a starred hotel in Assonora on Wednesday evening after hundreds of local taxi-owners converged outside the hotel and demanded that the hotel management put off its plan to start a taxi counter and to allow local residents of the village to handle the taxi business in the hotel.
The matter was finally resolved at around 7.30 pm in the evening on the intervention of the Deputy Collector Kapil Phadte and senior police officials.
The local tourist taxi-owners led by All Goa Taxi Owners President Chetan Kamat and spokesman Laxman (Bappa) Korgaonkar claimed that the hotel management was very arrogant and uncooperative and parked their vehicles along the entrance of the hotel blocking its entrance.
The taxi-owners took offence to one of the senior representatives of the starred hotel, who they claim, refused to listen neither to them nor to senior officials of the State administration.
“The hotel management wants to start a taxi counter in the hotel which we do not want. Secondly, we want the taxi business should be handed to local taxi owners. But an arrogant hotel representative is just not ready to give us an ear,” said Korgaonkar.
He said the hotel representative had invited the representatives of the tourist taxi-owners and the local panchayat sarpanch today (Wednesday) at 11 am, but the hotel representative refused to keep his word.
“He kept us waiting till 2 pm and then invited 20 of us to come in for discussion. Soon he changed his stance and said the leaders of taxi owners Bappa and Kamat cannot be part of the group,” he said.
As the situation was going out of hand, authorities summoned additional police force to the site. DySP Gajanan Prabhudessai, Mapusa PI Tushar Lotlikar, Pernem PI Jivba Dalvi and other police officials were present near the hotel trying to convince the taxi-owners.
Finally, at the request of the deputy collector, the hotel management held a discussion with a group of 10 taxi owners along with the Assonora Sarpanch Shankar Naik and other panchayat members at around 6.30 pm.
According to the taxi-owners, who were present for the discussion, the hotel management agreed not to take any outsiders to run the taxi business and to allow the locals to handle the taxi business of the hotel.
Earlier, the tourist taxi-owners confronted the Assonora Sarpanch Shankar Naik and asked the panchayat to back the locals on the taxi issue.
“Since the hotel is in the village, first preference should be given to the locals,” Kamat said.
The Assonora sarpanch informed the gathering of the taxi-owners that the panchayat would stand by the local taxi-owners and do what is good for them.
“We have not given the hotel any right to put a counter. There seems to be a misunderstanding among the taxi-owners. We have requested the hotel to give opportunity to local boys and their taxis,” Naik said.
