United Taximen Union (UTU), an association of 350-odd Yellow-Black taxi operators at Goa Airport in Dabolim, on Monday immediate action against illegal taxis and rent-a-cars operating at Goa Airport.
Members of UTU have threatened to take law in their hands if illegal taxi operators are not stopped from soliciting customers at Goa Airport.
Speaking to reporters, UTU President Vidhyanand Divkar requested Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to intervene and provide additional staff at Goa Airport to curb the illegalities.
“These touts eat our business and even create a scene at times and we will not tolerate this any further. We have requested the police to act on these touts but they say that there is a shortage of staff and these touts have been flourishing here without fear,” said Divkar.
UTU Member Anand Pednekar said touts misguide passengers and take them out of the airport to a taxi operator, who usually overcharges the customer thus spoiling the name of the airport taxi operators.
“This also spoils the name of the State and we are then termed as ‘mafia’. Recently, one illegal taxi driver was caught by the police on charges of supplying drugs to a passenger who was hospitalised due to a drug overdose.”
“We want our CM to give us additional police to keep such touts and illegal taxi operators at bay. We will now catch these touts and be forced to take law in hands because the police are helpless,” said Pednekar.
Another UTU Member Prasad Prabhugaonkar said besides illegal taxis, rent-a-car operators were also operating from Goa Airport.
“The rent-a-car operators must do business from their offices and not from the airport. While the Yellow-Black taxi operators have an official counter at the airport, these illegal taxis pose great danger to tourists as no one is aware of the driver’s credentials and details making it will be difficult to trace a crime if committed by these illegal taxi operators.”
“We already have one case of molestation and one case of drugs against illegal taxis which had taken passengers from the airport. Private people have also now begun offering cars as taxis and rent-a-car vehicles and these illegalities must be stopped immediately, failing which we have to agitate or take law in our hands,” warned Prabhugaonkar.
