Team Herald
VASCO: The State government proposal to increase the number of taxis at Dabolim International Airport for the convenience of airline passengers met with strong opposition from the Airport Taxi Union.
Calling the proposal illogical, the President of United Taximen Association (union of airport taxi operators) Sanjay Naik said currently they have 350 taxis at the airport, which are sufficient to cater to the transport needs of airport passengers.
“We do not know why the government wants to increase the number of taxis at the airport. We are opposed to it and will continue to oppose the proposal as it is illogical,” he said, after a meeting with Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida.
A delegation of around 150-odd taxi operators on Wednesday marched to Almeida’s office to put forth their grievances about parking, counter issue at the airport and to seek his support for opposing any proposed increase in taxis at airport.
“In order to push more taxis at the airport some politicians have been making statement about long queues at the airport, with passengers facing inconvenience. The queues are not because we don’t have taxis, but due to unavailability of parking facilities,” he said, adding that at any time we can get only 40 to 50 vehicles at the airport.
He claimed that as per the statement made by CM Manohar Parrikar, Mopa airport will be ready in few years. This will surely have negative impact on Dabolim airport and on us, as air traffic here will reduce as airlines will prefer to land in Mopa rather than at Dabolim, which has landing restrictions at certain hours of the day.
“Considering this if we try to increase more taxis, then what is the logic as we will have low business after Mopa and having more taxis would mean reduction in our income,” he added.
Carlos said he would urge all BJP Mormugao taluka MLAs to extend their support to the taxi operators.
“I think the government should not take any decision on increasing taxis before consulting all four MLAs from Mormugao taluka,” he said.
