MARGAO: Congress MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has said that he would raise the issue of grievances of tourist taxi owners in the Assembly on Monday.
Lourenco made the statement in view of the protest held by the taxi owners on Saturday afternoon against the new system of charging them at the airport.
“We pay Rs 100 as parking fee the moment we enter and then when we go to pick up the customer we are made to pay another Rs 100 without any reason or rhyme,” said Bappa Korgaonkar of the All Goa Taxi Union.
He pointed out that three years back the same system was started but was abandoned after they protested. “Now they are saying that the contractor has changed and we have not even seen the new contractor to discuss this matter with him,” he said.
Reginaldo Lourenco late evening had a meeting with South Goa Collector Tariq Thomas and the Director of Airports Authority of India over this matter and it was decided to stop collecting the amount the second time for the time being till a final decision on the matter is taken.
“If tourism has to grow then all of us have to work together and the tourist taxi owners have a problem that needs to be addressed and we shall take it up with the higher authorities,” said the Collector while disclosing that for the moment the charging of the second fee would be stopped.
Reginaldo said he would address a memorandum to the Airports Authority of India over this issue on Monday and that he would also raise the matter in the assembly. “These are our Goan brothers and they should not be harassed in any manner if the government is serious about Goem, Goenkar and Goenkarponn,” he said.
