I congratulate Citizen Herald for highlighting the plight of passengers, especially women, travelling in taxis plying on the Margao-Colva route.
I myself have had the experience of travelling in these crammed taxis, once with a ‘paan’ chewing migrant labourer by my side, and on another occasion crushed in my seat next to a stout woman who overflowed from her place onto my lap.
In the front, three passengers plus the driver are seated; one passenger sits close to the driver. The driver sits at an angle in the corner driving the taxi. While on the back seat, five persons have to accommodate themselves in. On one occasion, feeling crushed to his seat, a man stretched out his arm on the back rest. A woman by his side yelled at him, “Tum kitem korta? Tuzo haath sokol dovor.” This resulted in an argument between the two passengers with the driver keeping mum. Are these taxis so special that they have to be exempted from the penalty for overcrowding the vehicle, especially with three passengers in the front seat?
On the day of Fama, the fare is doubled. Is there no control over this?
The taxis have a monopoly over the route and do not allow buses to ply, since buses are a threat to the taxi business. The private bus operators are threatened and buses are stoned. Some years ago, a bus plied from Cuncolim to Colva via Margao. The taxi drivers protested and through the intervention of a minister got the permit of the bus cancelled. It would be nice if our very own ministers could enjoy this type of a drive!
A lot of grieved villagers have been fighting for the plying of buses for several years even by organizing rallies and morchas, but in vain. The same has also been discussed many times at the gram sabha meetings.
It is high time that the Transport Department puts a stop to the overcrowding of these taxis and issue permits to ply buses from Margao Market to Colva on the Margao-Colva road thereby making both the taxis as well as the buses ply on the said route, and in this way make people travel comfortably and also make the tourists’ visits to Colva a memorable one.
