It is time to translate the words into action. Yes, “Dadagiri of taxiwallahs won’t be tolerated,” said Chief Minister Pramod Sawant when he felt the heat by experiencing the shame internationally. A group of 100 American tourists who arrived at Mormugao Port in Goa could not proceed on a sight-seeing trip after irate taxi operators stopped them from boarding designated buses.
Yes, it is highhandedness of the taxi operators who instead of being ambassadors of Goa as in the case of Singapore and other nations in the world became a major hindrance to tourists. Will such rogue behaviour help boost tourism in Goa? Certainly not! And where were the Tourist Police who are entrusted for “ease of tourism”?
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Barely a week ago, the Mopa Airport was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi promising that “ease of travel” will increase and will also give a “tremendous boost to tourism”.
However, such irresponsible behaviour by the taxi operators will derail the entire good deeds and efforts of the government. In fact, the Tourism Minister had to apologise for the treatment meted out to the tourists by the taxi operators. This came after the tourists filed a complaint with the American embassy in India.
The issue with taxi operators in Goa and their unruly behaviour towards the tourists is not new. It has been happening for over two decades now and the state government has never been able to take a tough stand to control this unfriendly tourist welcome. In fact, the taxi operators have also put their foot down on several occasions not to allow private taxi operators like Ola and Uber to enter this State.
The jaunts to foreign countries by Tourism Department officials every year to attract tourists to the state is not going to help. It will only end-up for these officials to upload their pictures on social media from foreign countries. The work to attract tourists has to begin from within and the first step is to arrange for ease of stay and travel.
Goa has plenty of comfortable hotels according to the budget of any tourist, whether international or domestic. What is clearly lacking is the travel service, especially when the taxi fares are exorbitantly high. Compared to other states in the country, Goa’s taxi fares are the highest and is turning a big deterrent to tourists to come to the State.
Instead, they are now planning to travel international destinations like Sri Lanka, Maldives, Thailand or even Vietnam which are tourist-friendly and some of them even cheaper than Goa.
Even though Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte have condemned the incident and the state police have said that they are conducting an inquiry into the incident, the damage has been done and the word of Goa “taxiwalla dadagiri” has already spread worldwide, thanks to the speed of the social media. One search on google on how to travel in Goa will reveal several stories about the behaviour of our unfriendly taxi drivers.
Tourist who embark on a journey has budgeted money and more often than not they get a rude shock on arrival by seeing the over-priced, inflated, and exorbitant taxi bills.
There has to be some control and the state government has to sit together with various departments and stakeholders to end this menace or else face the wrath of the tourists. Several skirmishes outside hotels have been reported which directly involved the taxi operators and the tourists.
It will take a strong and very firm commitment by the state government to resolve this issue which may now, especially after pandemic, stem the tourist footfalls in the state.
Christmas and New Year festive seasons are knocking at the door, hotel tariff too has sky rocketed and if the tourists are charged unreasonably by the taxi operators it will never give a pleasant feel to guests who look forward to enjoy their hard-earned money at the end of the year.
