After unveiling campaign last week, petitioners now launch Facebook page
the goan I network
PANAJI
After a week, it was revealed the campaign had received signatures not only from India but also from UK, the US and Middle Eastern countries. In all, 6,275 signatures came from India, 94 from UAE, 92 from the US, 86 from UK, 32 from Kuwait, 23 from Canada, 22 from Australia, 13 from Singapore, 11 from Oman 68 from other countries.
The petition made to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar called for services like Ola and Uber to be allowed to operate in the state, pointing to the taxi drivers not using taxi meters as required by law and instead charge exorbitant fares for their services.
In addition to the signatures, 2,630 of those who signed the petition commented on the problems they faced with the current system and why the Ola/ Uber service was needed in the state.
In his update, petitioner Mahesh Sardesai, based in Canada said, “These comments were extremely helpful to define the change needed. This will help to define the requirements for Goa’s Taxi System.”
One comment on the petition read, “Absolutely a must in a place like Goa where public transport is not great, rickshaws are few and they don’t run on meter and the cab guys charge you exorbitant. In fact, the North Goa cabs are reluctant to go to South Goa due to the unions there. Uber and Ola will certainly be a boon to lot of tourists thus aiding the tourism industry of the beautiful Goa. Only hope and pray the cab unions will allow their smooth functioning.”
Another post read, “It’s long overdue in a place like Goa where tourists often are victims of unscrupulous PVT (sic) taxi operators. Sometimes, the flight fare from Mumbai is less than the taxi fare from airport to home. It is impossible to go out of home at night during an emergency if you don’t drive. For old people, it will be a boom”
The petition was met with anger from the taxi drivers association, with a threat to protest taxi services in the state, and objected to being called goondas. This, however, didn’t stop people to comment and start a new page on social media site Facebook called “The Taxi Revolution in Goa” where even more messages have poured in for support to the petition.
The petition though started by Sardesai received support from Armando Gonsalves, Avelino D’Sa, Milind Barve, Mousinho Reis, Nilesh Borde and Rohan Govekar.
