Tourists who visit Goa complain about two things -- taxes and taxis. People in Goa also feel the same. I will not comment on the taxes because of limited space in this column but one thing l will say is that it is totally wrong on the part of the government to think that the economy of the state depends only on income from taxes and that controlling expenditure, especially wasteful, is not important.
As regards taxis, for decades now operators have been running without meters when taxis in other states have meters. The situation has remained so because of the reluctance of the taxi drivers and appeasement by the government. Last year, the government showed some seriousness on the issue and it succeeded partially in seeing that many taxis installed digital meters. Let’s hope that all taxis are fitted with meters soon.
However, although meters are fixed in many taxis, most of them are not operational. They are just ornamental. People want that taxis to charge fares as per the meter. They have waited long enough for it. The new government in Goa should act in this matter without further ado.
