PANAJI
Yet another promise, yet another deadline and it all comes to nothing.
On July 28, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had made a categorical statement on the floor of the Goa Legislative Assembly that, he would hold a series of meetings across the month of September and resolve the issue of taxi meters by September 30.
With September 30, barely three days away and no meetings with ‘stakeholders' held, this has turned out to be yet another empty promise by the Chief Minister.
"I promise the members of this house that by September 1, I will convene a meeting with all stakeholders and all MLAs including Churchill Alemao and Michael Lobo and the Tourism Minister. Series of meetings will be convened in September. Around 10 to 12 meetings should help us find a solution by September 30 because the issue is critical for State tourism," Chief Minister Manohar
Parrikar said.
The Chief Minister had brought to a swift end to a discussion on taxi meters after Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral had moved a private members' resolution seeking that taxis in the State install digital meters and charge according to the meter while Calangute MLA Michael Lobo was all set to vociferously defend the tourist taxi operators.
Speaking to The Goan, Cabral who is also the chairman of the Goa Tourism Development Corporation has said that, if any meetings were held, he wasn't informed and is unsure if the government has arrived
at a conclusive decision in the matter.
"The CM had promised to resolve the issue by September 30. But if he has held any meetings, I was not called. Maybe he is working on something that I am not aware of," Cabral told
The Goan.
A group under the banner of "Citizens for Change" had started an online petition to the government to allow app based taxi aggregators to operate in Goa and the petition received more than 10,000 signatures and creating waves online with several signatories urging the authorities to break the monopoly of tourist taxis in Goa which they said had become a law unto themselves.
"We have finally received a letter from the Directorate of Transport which only says that "the file pertaining to the said subject is under submission to the government for a decision," the page titled ‘taxi revolution in Goa' has reported referring to the response they have received after submitting a physical copy of the online petition to the government.
"What Goa needs is leadership to take a decision for the future of the state and not some kingpin who owns fleets of taxis and feeds politicians and lives abroad," the promoters of the petition have said.
The issue remains hotly debated, especially since the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa approached the Bombay High Court at Goa to strictly impose tourist taxis in Goa charge by the meter.
