PANAJI
Upset with the launch of the “Goa Taxi App”, the traditional taxi operators are apprehensive but are not willing to give up without a fight as they made their stand clear to oppose app-based taxis and defend their turf, come what may.
Finding themselves pushed to a corner, a section of the taxi owners are seething with anger for being ignored and accused the government of trying to finish the only tourism-related taxi business dominated by the locals.
“They (the government) had said that they would take us into confidence but that wasn’t to be. It was all lies. We are against app-based taxis and are firm on our stand. We will protest and fight against the “Hitler-shahi” government which is trying to impose their wishes on us,” said Laxman Korgaonkar alias Bappa, who is part of the North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (NGTTOA).
It is obvious that the taxi owners doubt the intention of the government to introduce the taxi app exposing the trust deficit between the two.
“However much we may shout, the government will finally do whatever they want. That is the reality. But one thing is also certain. We are not going to join the app-based taxis,” said a taxi operator, who is an executive member of NGTTOA but did not want his name to be revealed fearing vindictive action.
The traditional taxi operators also prompted the oft making statement that the government was out to eliminate the taxi business from the Goans and hand it on a platter to “outsiders”.
They also maintained that app-based taxis were not workable in a thinly populated State like Goa.
“The government wants to finish the taxi business of the locals by bringing the aggregators. Over 20,000 families are depending on the taxi business besides another 30,000 on other allied business. We are not against the government but we want to save our business from frittering out into the hands of the outsiders like other tourism businesses,” said Yogesh Govekar alias Mogambo, a taxi operator from Vagator.
Last week, the State government launched the Goa Taxi app exclusively for local taxi operators. It was an alternative for Goan cabbies who refused to join the GoaMiles, a privately run aggregator on the streets of Goa.
While launching the app, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant along with Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte said technology was the need of the hour and appealed to taxi owners to register with the new app.
The tourist taxi owners opined that they were already in the loop as far as technology was concerned but repulsed the idea of app-based taxis as unfeasible in a small State of Goa. “We have already adopted the technology that is required. We are on Facebook and other social media platforms. We are not app-based, we are client-based. We get calls from tourists who directly call us when they come to Goa,” Govekar said.
According to Laxman Korgoankar, the introduction of app-based taxis will only create differences among Goans and warned that there could be a law and order problem in future. “We have plans to counter the move of the government but we do not want to reveal it at the moment,” Korgoankar said.
Surprisingly, some who opposed the app-based taxis also foresaw the death knell of the taxi business of the locals.
“In another two to three years all local taxi operators will be wiped off and outsiders will take over the taxi business in Goa,” rued the NGTTOA executive member.
