PANAJI
The much debated government-sponsored app-based taxi aggregator proposal failed to reach the discussion table at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting apparently owing to the threat of its disruption due to widespread opposition from the taxi operator community and their associations.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant told the media at his post-cabinet briefing that it was not placed before the cabinet because some issues were needed to be resolved.
“As far as the taxi app is concerned, I along with Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho and Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte will sit together and resolve these nitty-gritties soon,” Sawant said.
Godinho who was seated along with Sawant at the media briefing meanwhile said, the Goa Taxi App proposal is “fully ready” but added that it will be placed before the cabinet after holding discussions with stakeholders.
“All taxi operators from Goa will be stakeholders. We will hold discussions with them before launching the app,” Godinho said, adding that taxi counters with multiple options will also be set up at the Manohar International Airport at Mopa.
“I will solve issues related to the concerns raised by taxi operators about counters at Mopa,” Godinho said, adding however that taxi owners and operators will have to migrate to the taxi app once it is launched to ensure better service.
The much talked of government sponsored taxi app had evoked strong reactions from the taxi operator community and has already missed the publicly announced Liberation Day (December 19) launch date.
The government, Godinho had said on Tuesday, is firm to start Goa Taxi App at Mopa airport citing that it does not want to replicate the issue around Dabolim airport at the new airport. “The taxi operators are opposing every good thing. Are they using digital meters? No. If they had to, we could have given a second thought to the implementation of the new cab booking application. We don’t want any fuss at the new airport,” he said.
