VASCO
Around 200 taxi operators associated to Mormugao Port Trust Taxi Union (MPTTU) were overjoyed with the arrival of the MV Cordelia Empress on Sunday.
Members of the union were seen present outside the MPT cruise berth with their taxis to attend to around 1,105 passengers that arrived on Sunday.
MPTTU President Sanjay Kanoji thanked the government and authorities for resuming the operations of the ship to Goa and were glad over the assurance that the vessel will now carry out 58 calls to Goa in the tourism season.
“We have around 200 members who operate taxis here and the arrival and continuation of this domestic cruise ship will generate income and livelihood to all these 200 taxi operators who were badly affected due to the pandemic. Urban Development Minister Milind Naik had been instrumental in allowing us this counter but we were out of business for long as the cruise ship business had stopped due to the pandemic,” said Kanoji.
Meanwhile another member of MPTTU, Umesh Mandrekar assured that the taxi operators will follow all the SOPs and guidelines laid down by the government while doing business at the MPT cruise berth counter.
