MAPUSA
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Thursday made a strong case for app-based taxi aggregators in the State and appealed to all the legislators to support such a system so that the tourism industry can flourish and locals can get affordable transport.
Khaunte also said the government can take care of the welfare of the taxi operators with the revenue earned from the aggregators.
“If we want to move ahead then we need an aggregator. If there is a problem with the rate then we can have a joint meeting with the CM and all the coastal MLAs to find a way out. But to do this we need to take a firm stand. Let us go for an aggregator,” Khaunte said, while participating in a discussion during the Question Hour.
Cuncolim MLA, Yuri Alemao had raised the issue of rate structure of Goa Miles and the amount paid to the taxi operators.
Khaunte said a model like Goa Miles was required where taxi operators are not made to pay from their pocket while the aggregator charges the customers and pays the government.
“We are also concerned about the taxi operators. The fund generated from the 5 percent of the revenue can be used to create welfare schemes for taxi operators. We can provide the taxi operator a family pension, family insurance, children’s education etc,” he said.
He informed the House that the GTDC had signed an agreement with Goa Miles in 2018 providing a moratorium of 18 months.
“The moratorium ended in Feb 2020. Then from Feb 2020 Covid started which went up for two years. Considering the Covid-19 related lockdown and restrictions, due to which taxi services were adversely affected, the GTDC Board had finalised a policy for all new tourism service providers, including Goa Miles, wherein the service providers were asked to pay 5 percent of the gross revenue for the financial year 2020-21 and 2021-22,” Khuante said.
He informed that a total of Rs3.34 crore has been collected as GST right from the inception of the service which is the revenue earned by the government.
Apart from that an amount of Rs 6.56 lakh (5 % of the gross revenue) has been paid by the service provider to GTDC for the operational year ended February 2020- February 2021.
“Unlike other app aggregators who charge a commission between 20%-30%, Goa Miles does not charge any such prices/commissions from taxi owners. The revenue source is a convenience fee ranging from Rs 25 to Rs 140 per ride that is being charged to the customer over and above the fare, but within the transport department notified rates,” he said.
Fatorda MLA, Vijai Sardesai said on one hand the government says it does want to earn on taxi business and on the other hand is collecting 5 per cent of the gross revenue from the aggregator.
“There appears to be a conflict of interest here,” Sardesai said.
According to Aldona MLA, Carlos Ferreira, if Goa Miles was paying less rate then they were resorting to undercutting.
"Undercutting in business affects everyone. Many telecom companies started off by giving free facilities and soon collapsed. The undercutting is basically to grab the market,” Ferreira said.
Leader of Opposition, Michael Lobo said that Goa Miles was given a backdoor entry in the State.
“We need to protect the interest of local taxi operators,” Lobo said.
The Tourism Minister informed that tourism was emerging as the backbone of Goa’s economy and tourists across the world and India prefer to use online app-based taxi services, which gives a number of advantages to the customers, including cash/cashless payment, efficient tax collection, GPS-based tracking and passenger safety.
