VASCO: Bowing to the demands of tourist taxi operators, the parking contractor at Dabolim airport has withdrawn his bouncers and allotted a 10-minute halt for vehicles to drop passengers at the airport.
According to Mormugao DySP Mohan Naik, he directed the contractor during the agitation by taxi operators to withdraw the bouncers to avoid further complications at the airport.
“Goa is an international tourist destination and creating problems at the airport would send wrong signal to tourists,” said DySP Naik.
“It not only sends wrong signals, but also hampers the smooth functioning of vehicles at the airport. In view of this, I directed the contractor to withdraw his bouncers and allot a 10-minute halt to the taxi operators, who come to drop passengers,” added Naik.
When contacted, the tourist taxi operators at the airport admitted that the contractor withdrew the bouncers the very next day and had stopped charging them parking fees.
When asked whether the local taxi operators were part of the agitation, some local taxi operators said they are allotted parking space along with the yellow and black taxis, as they have merged their union with the yellow and black taxi operators.
“It was other taxi operators, who used to come to drop their passengers at the airport, were charged for halting for more than 5 minutes,” said a source in the tourist taxi operators.
“As everything is settled now, there is no more confusion as the other tourist taxi operators are allotted 10 minutes as demanded by them,” the source added.
It may be recalled that on November 27, the tourist taxi operators blocked the exit point at Dabolim airport, demanding the parking contractor to withdraw the bouncers and reset the parking timing as 10 minutes within seven days, failing which they had threatened to intensify the agitation.
