PANAJI
The government-constituted committee to resolve issues of tourist taxi owners has now constituted a sub-committee to examine their grievances and other connected issues.
Tourist taxi associations have, however, expressed their displeasure saying they would keep all taxis off the roads during the peak tourist season from December 24 to January 1.
The sub-committee constituting Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, Benaulim MLA Caitano Silva, North Goa Collector Nila Mohanan, SPs for North and South Goa, Transport Director, Director of Tourism Department Nikhil Desai and other members met with representatives of the North and South Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association on Monday to discuss a solution.
The sub-committee along with ministers Dayanad Mandrekar and Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar had earlier last week held a preliminary meeting to discuss the major issue of rent a cab licenses.
Based on minutes of meetings obtained from the preliminary meeting, the sub-committee “deliberated on the issue and in principle agreed that this rent-a-cab scheme should be implemented in the state. However, Michael Lobo and Caetano Silva submitted that before implementation of the scheme, the pending grievances of the Association be resolved.”
Speaking to The Goan, North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (NGTTOA) general secretary Vinayak Nanonskar said the government was not interested in resolving their issues but were looking for a way to make the rent a cab a legal business.
“During the meeting, we were told that there were 53 lakh tourists that came to the state last year and there were 20,000 taxis to take them around when the need was for 27,000. They wanted the rest of the number to be filled with the rent a cabs. This is not a solution,” he said adding that taxi drivers would take their vehicles off the road during the peak tourist season from December 24 to January 1 this year.
Issues related to fitting of a fare meter with a digital printer and Global Positioning System (GPS) and displaying of rates were also discussed during the meeting.
