PANAJI
The Taxi owners’ association on Tuesday have given a one-month ultimatum to the Goa government to scrap taxi aggregator app GoaMiles and have threatened to launch an agitation if their demand is not met.
The Taxi owners’ association met Transport Director Rajan Satardekar with their prime demand of revoking permission of taxi aggregator GoaMiles and not to allow any more aggregator apps in the State.
A large number of taxi owners on Tuesday assembled outside the RTO office in Panaji and reiterated their demand to scrap the GoaMiles App.
“The Goa government has not taken any decision to scrap the GoaMiles. So the government will be responsible if there is any law and order problem after March 31 as taxi owners will come on the streets with their families to fight for their demands,” said the taxi owners addressing the media after meeting the transport director.
The transport director heard the grievances of the taxi owners and told them that revoking the permission for GoaMiles is not in his purview as it needs a policy decision.
He maintained that chief minister and transport minister are the right authorities to speak to or give an assurance on the issue.
While pitching for an aggregator-based system, the director said that there is a need to protect the interest of the Goan taxi drivers and there is also a need of good public transport and policies should be framed accordingly. He said that app-based aggregators are present in all major states.
The taxi owners however were vexed at the stance of the transport director and said that permission granted to GoaMiles by violating the rules were known to all, including the transport director.
“We strongly oppose GoaMiles and the government should shut down the service as soon as possible, otherwise the government will have to face the consequences in the next elections,” the association’s executive member Yogesh Govekar said.
