He is 80. She is 75. Their children amd grandkids are out of Goa. He needs ro go for a check up or a dialysis. She needs to go for a vaccine shot. And they live on Corjuem or Chandor. And their local cabbie who treats them like parents says he just cannot tale them till the strike is over. This story repeats in villages across Goa daily.
Yes there are many Goan taxi drivers who feel for their regular clients amd their heart breaks to see them stranded, yet have to refuse them to show solidarity with the taxi strike.
For someone like Evelyn D Souza from Aldona who is a senior citizen and lives alone in Aldona said she had not left the house in quite a while. She said “I don’t have transport and I have to go next month for insulin. Someone or the other brings daily necessities for me when it is needed. I live alone, I don’t go out at all and this virus is bad enough. No one comes and checks on me every day. If I have to travel anywhere, I am stuck but I use the auto rickshaw service if I am forced to. The taxi service is too expensive.”
Vienna Shirodkar, another senior citizen from Panjim said she was quite active and used to step out every day for mass. She said that since whatever she wanted for around her house it was not a problem. However the taxi strike had caused problems for her. She said “I usually have someone fixed who takes me around whenever I want but now with the strike he cannot do that. He had to come over in a private car to take me around. I hope that situation improves quickly because it creates a lot of problems for people like me who use their service”.
Nupura Hautamaki who has been involved in social service in a big way especially when the first lockdown was announced said people were asking for assistance. She said “There are people willing to help. A lot of people who don’t have access to social media are falling between the cracks. The government or the panchayat should be activated. Many of the senior citizens are comfortable in Konkani and the panchayat should have a jeep going around the village providing details. They can offer help for those who need an injection. We have volunteer groups but no one has the reach the panchayats have. They can visit these senior citizens and give them numbers of volunteers who can drive them around or bring them the medications or foodstuff. The taxi strike has made life even more difficult.”
The tough choices being faced by senior citizens was presented by Shruti Chaturvedi. A resident in the state for three years she has been very involved in a Whatsapp group called Covid Emergency Relief Group. She said there were a large number of volunteers all-round the state helping people in need. When asked how the taxi strike had affected the elderly she said on an average they were taking 40 to 50 people to meet doctors or hospitals everyday around the state because they did not have transport now. She said “We have taken people to the hospital, got them tested and then taken them home. Yesterday we helped a visually impaired boy take his mother to the GMC hospital and helped her get admitted. A lot of the elderly people don’t know how to move ahead and we have to be present to help them”. Many taxi drivers she had talked to said they would not under any circumstance take anyone who could be suspected of having the virus because they could be infected.
Mckenzie Eudes Pereira who is helping people to donate plasma said if taxis were available and there were apps available to hire them, he would use them instead of driving around in his car. He said people’s lives have been affected and this strike was the last thing that was needed for everyone but then such is life.
The strike has had effects across the board and one can only hope it is sorted out quickly so that people who are dependent on these services don’t have to face even more hassle in addition to what they are already dealing with thanks to the virus.
