MARGAO : Presence of tourist taxis under the banner of Goa Miles at the Colva Residency created an uproar at Colva on Saturday morning after local tourist taxi operators raised strong objections, fearing that they will be displaced from their business by the new taxis.
Former Minister Mickky Pacheco also made his presence felt and took up cudgels for the beleaguered local taxi operators, as he demanded that the government should not take any decision that would leave the local youth unemployed.
A local tourist taxi operator Arun told the media that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should immediately intervene in the matter and save the livelihood of the local youth employed in the tourist taxi business. “We know that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is a gentleman and we only request him to protect the interests of the local youth engaged in the tourist taxi business,” Arun demanded.
Another tourist taxi operator said the local operators will have no option but to come on the roads with their families. “We have been given notified rates by the government to ply taxis. But, what we have noticed is that these taxis ply for less than the notified rates, threatening to eat into our business,” the operator added.
Mickky Pacheco said that Goa in general and Colva in particular have enough number of tourist taxis and there’s no need to introduce more taxis under the banner of Goa Miles. “I am not against anyone, but we should understand that Goa is a small state. When so many tourist taxis are already registered, there’s no need for registering new taxis,” he added.
Commenting on the presence of Goa Miles taxis inside the GTDC campus, Mickky demanded that the taxis should not ply till the issue is cleared by the government on Monday.
