MAPUSA
The Mapusa yellow and black taxi owners association submitted a memorandum to the transport department requesting it to exempt them from fitting of speed limiting devices to their vehicles.
Around 50 yellow and black taxi owners in a meeting in Mapusa resolved to agitate if their demand was not considered favourably by the transport department.
"There's no guarantee that speed governors will reduce the number of accidents. The government cannot guarantee that there will be no accidents after introducing the speed limiting devices in the State," said Adv Mahesh Rane, legal advisor of the Mapusa yellow and black taxi owners association.
He said the government needs to study the matter scientifically to understand the reason behind the accidents and come out with a road map to reduce these road mishaps.
"In our State, speed breakers are built without proper specification which also adds to the problem," he added.
Mapusa yellow and black taxi owners association, President, Vithal Mandrekar appealed to all taxi owners to remain united on the issue because speed governors will only increase their financial burden.
"We have brought to the notice of the government that during the period of 2015- 2017, around 587 fatal accidents took place and around 925 people were injured, however, none of the yellow and black taxi operators were involved in any of the accidents during the period," Mandrekar said.
He said this clearly indicated that yellow and black taxi operators were driving with utmost care and abiding all traffic rules.
The secretary of the association, Suresh Amenkar also spoke on the occasion.
The taxi owners also submitted the memorandum to the transport minister and the chief minister.
