PANAJI
The Goa government’s latest bid to woo taxi operators with a revised version of its taxi aggregator platform -- now branded as the ‘Goa Taxi Driver App’ -- has backfired with furious taxi unions asking the government to take over their vehicles and run them.
Re-launched on Thursday under the tagline “Goa Taxi, Aamchi Taxi,” the revamped app includes incentives such as 25 litres of free fuel -- petrol, diesel or CNG -- to the first 500 taxi drivers who complete 50 rides while staying active between 8 am and 8 pm over 30 consecutive days.
However, this incentive model has failed to pacify the tourist taxi lobby, which has once again lashed out at the State for pushing what they call an “unrealistic and lopsided” decision.
President of the North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association Vasudev Arlekar asked the government to take the taxis for themselves. “Why are they doing such drama? Let them take our taxis free of cost and run them on their own. The government thinks we are the richest in the world, richer than big tycoons. That’s why they are tightening the noose without understanding the ground reality,” he lamented, speaking to The Goan.
The government’s move comes ahead of the June 30 deadline for public feedback on the draft Goa Transport Aggregator Guidelines, 2025 amid traditional operators’ fear that it is meant to open the floodgates for national aggregators like Ola and Uber. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant has assured that these big players will not be allowed entry under the new framework.
Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, who has defended the move as part of a modernisation push, has also come under fire from the same stakeholders for allegedly imposing digital meters unfairly.
“The government should first look at Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and see whether taxis there use digital meters. This rule was brought in Goa only to earn some extra bucks,” Arlekar alleged. He also claimed that meters that cost around Rs 4,000 in the open market were sold to each taxi driver for Rs 11,000 through dealers onboarded by the government.
Former association president Vinayak Nanoskar also took a dig at the aggregator model, calling it non-transparent and skewed in favour of middlemen. “Drivers are forced to pay extra for every trip, especially from the airport. Nothing is clear in this model,” he said.
