the goan I network
VASCO
The United Taximen Union (UTU) on Sunday assured that they would not indulge in violence during the opening of car rental counter at Dabolim airport today (Monday). The taximen gave this assurance while addressing the media in Vasco on Sunday evening.
General secretary and adviser to Vasco taximen Adv Herculano Dourado said that the United Taximen feels the absence of Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar at this juncture as he had been all along with them in the past 40 years. Adv Dourado also mantained that violence was not the right step. He further said that the statement to the media by Mormugao Dy Collector Mahadev Arondekar, warning the UTU of police action, was uncalled for and was an attempt to paint them with the same brush the govt painted the tourist taxi operators who have been agitating across Goa of late.
“Since the last nearly 40 years I have been guiding the Union and we never ever resorted to violence and always supported the government in every difficult situation and therefore, it pained us. Yesterday (Saturday) the Collector (South) had called a meeting of all stake holders at the Dabolim Airport in the office of Mormugao Dy Collector to discuss issues arising out of the proposal to start a new taxi counter at the Dabolim airport, especially in view of the strong reservation expressed by the UTU earlier,” said Dourado.
Dourado said he requested for copies of the various permissions and the High Court petition and order, some of which were made available during the meeting, and having gone through the documents, pointed out that the HC had only given direction to take a formal decision in 2 weeks, since the Govt advocate had stated that the petitioner ostensibly has all the requisite permissions. “The Regional Transport Authority then granted a licence for operating Car Rental(Maxicab) Service at the Dabolim Airport to Taj India Tours. In the absence of documents we are unaware if the firm/company is a registered body and/or if Ranbir Singh is the proprietor of the same. We have no objection to the starting of Car Rental (Maxicab) Service as it is meant to rent out maxicabs to private individuals for their use only and that they cannot be used as normal taxis to drop arriving passengers to particular destinations.This view was accepted by all the officers present and reinforced by the RTO officials present at the meeting. Accordingly the Dy Collector informed the licensee that he should get his licence modified if he desired to operate his vehicles as point to point taxis,” said Dourado.
“Tomorrow (Monday) we have no agitation as reported in the media, nor we shall engage ourselves in any violent act. We look forward to the Dy Collector and the police to maintain and uphold the law by only allowing Taj India Tours to rent cars only and that too the Maxicabs only and further by not allowing them to book passengers for point to point travel. If there is an attempt by them to do illegalities we shall bring to their notice and the authorities and seek immediate redressal so that they do not usurp our business. It is our hope that authorities will cooperate in promoting the established law of the land,” said Dourado.
