It is without a doubt the longest running soap opera in the country. It was a situation where one
party moaned about the injustice of it all and the opposing party made a show
of being interested in solving it. After years of this through and forth, the
high court decided enough was enough and laid down the law. Now again after
much delay the State government has decided to provide free digital meters to
taxi drivers. There was a great deal of discussion about providing meters with
the government promising taxi drivers payment for expenses incurred in
installing the meter. Now all that has come to an end with the government
deciding to incur the cost of the entire exercise. However, that is not the end
with taxi drivers still believing the rates they can charge are untenable and
that they are here to only service tourists and not the local resident who
wishes to travel either within a town or between two towns.
Savio Messias former president of the TTAG has always been very
blunt in his views on this subject and he spoke in a similar vein. He said “I
don’t think they should have been given the free meters. If the enforcement
agencies don’t check, these meters will be in their homes or they will not be
switched on. They will inform the passengers that it is not working”. He said
he had heard Michael Lobo saying that taxis would continue to operate on a rotation
basis at the hotels. This means they don’t want to switch on the meters. No one
from outside would be allowed to bring guests to the hotel. He said since the
meter was free, it would be treated like a lollipop. Enforcement he said had to
be tough and if it was not done the taxi meter would become a showpiece. The
taxi rates he said had been decided by the government. Goa, he said, had the
second highest taxi rates in the country. Savio said “There is a big difference
between us and the rest of the country. The fuel prices are the lowest in the
country. There was no justification for the increase in taxi meter rates and
now it is the highest in the country”. He also slammed the taxi drivers who
claimed it was a service only meant for tourists and they were not here to
service locals. This he said was absolutely wrong since everyone would be
willing to pay the government sanctioned rates.
Hoteliers who were contacted for a response refused to do so
having burnt their fingers in the past. Some had received calls from interested
parties asking them for a reason for the quotes that had appeared in the paper
that seemed to be inimical to their interests.
Nilesh Shah, President of the TTAG had no compunctions in
talking about the issue. He said he did not understand the hullabaloo being
raised about the fact that it was going to be given for free. Nilesh said
“Fifty percent they would have to pay and the rest would be paid by the
government and the bill would have to be given to the government for which they
would be reimbursed. Even with this they are not happy. I don’t understand what
they want? It is a high court verdict which has to be followed in letter and
spirit. Politicians should not play politics and that will be beneficial to the
industry. He said everyone including the Goans need transparency. The Goans and
the customers suffer and if this continues the tourists will turn their back on
Goa and everyone will suffer. The high court had ruled twelve years ago that
tourists should have the right to choose the mode of transport of their choice
and that was not done. Now this opportunity had to be taken.
Vincent Carvalho of the South Goa Tourist Association however
was blasé about the entire situation. He said “Those with an all India taxi
permit were exempted from the meters and now this move has been initiated. This
was for the taxis in the public domain for which this was done.”He went on to
say this move would bring them in conflict with the bus services, the autos and
the pilots. No one he said would win. It also seemed he said that anyone could
come here and drive a taxi and it was not necessary to have a domicile. Vincent
said the authorities were saying the business was commercialized and anyone
could go anywhere. He admitted it would all happen but one needed time and it
was beyond his understanding why they were being pushed like this.
It
is obvious there is no meeting ground as yet between the parties and perhaps in
time there will be some sort of understanding that will emerge. Till then interested
parties will try to delay the process and cause more heartburn for everyone.
