VASCO
Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar on Friday came out in full support of taxi operators refuting allegations of extortion against them even as he blamed tour operators for not following due procedures resulting the clash at the cruise terminal, forcing around 80 US tourists to abandon their sightseeing trip in the State.
"There have been allegations that taxi operators ask money from coach owners, harass and hold passengers to ransom and charge international passengers exorbitantly in dollars. I can refute these allegations and I challenge these tour operators to show any evidence to prove their allegations," said Amonkar.
He said the Mormugao DySP had clearly told the tour operators and other stakeholders that they will inform of the international ship arrival, number of passengers, number of coaches and other details well in advance.
“This procedure was happening all these while and the taxi union who is informed in advance allows all coaches and buses to move into the port and take passengers, sometimes allowing as many as 30 buses to take passengers”, Amonkar said.
“However, on that unfortunate day, there was a miscommunication by tour operators who did not inform police or the taxi union of the booking taken from the ship arriving with 80 passengers”, he said.
“The four coaches were also not allowed in the port since there was no information and the taxi operators also did not know who was taking the passengers on buses”, said Amonkar.
Amonkar, however, offered an apology. "This is a very sensitive issue which took place due to some miscommunication and misunderstanding. It is most unfortunate that a coach with 80 international tourists was sent back and this has sent a wrong message about Goa”, said Amonkar.
“I feel I am equally responsible and apologise to everyone on behalf of people of Mormugao and taxi union. I will also ensure that such incidents do not ever happen again in future.”
"There have been so many ships that came and there was never an issue except for the 14th cruise ship, where there was a misunderstanding between taxi and tour operators.
"I will take up this issue very seriously with the taxi union and I have also warned them that I will not allow them to do business if there are such incidents. There is no point doing business if we cannot respect tourists," said Amonkar.
