The taxi owners and drivers are now taking their agitation from the level of protests and dharnas against every decision taken to ensure fair play to Goa’s tourists, to a level of anarchy. They have now threatened to “paralyse Panjim” if the government goes ahead and introduces app-based taxis and run modern, comfortable, state of the art buses, to and from the airport to get passengers to their destinations.
This is no longer a simple protest. It has reached the level of muscle flexing which coincides with the phrase used commonly in social media and otherwise by countless tourists to describe Goa’s taxi lobby – the “mafia”. The argument of the taxi lobby cannot be narrowed down to a Goan need. Holding the state to ransom, in a manner that these taxi drivers are doing, is not a Goan need. Not giving Goans an affordable transport service, just because one assumes that all Goans have cars or two- wheelers, is not an act of Goenkarponn.
The time for treating the taxi lobby with such kid gloves, when they continue to hurt all other sections of Goan society, is over. The line has clearly been crossed. From an issue of not installing speed governors to check their speed, they are now coming in the way of the government introducing more choices for tourists to travel comfortably and break the absolute monopoly and anarchy of the taxi lobby. The memorandum submitted by taxi operators, objecting to the government introducing app-based Kadamba taxi services and buses to the airport is nothing short of preposterous.
Every major city or town in the country has provided choices to its commuters. And these commuters are not just tourists. They are people who live here and that includes not only Goans but hundreds of others from other parts of India and the world who have made Goa their home. Many among them live here and travel to other places for work, sometimes even twice a week. They need transport of their choice and according to their budget.
The monopoly of the taxi lobby has to end. Getting an app- based taxi or simply taking a comfortable, even air-conditioned bus, paying one third the price of a taxi ride, is a call each commuter has the right to take, and like every other civilized place in the country, various forms of transportation have to co-exist in harmony. And let the taxi lobby hear this carefully. The moment someone lands in Goa – and that includes those of us who live here, the following options must be available to us – A bus service, multiple radio-based taxi services, private but registered cab rentals, self-driven cars, tourist taxis, black and yellow taxis, bike rentals and bicycle rentals.
Once these choices are given each segment will have its own takers. Why should the people of Goa or the state government suffer an uncontrolled taxi lobby at the cost of not having any other form of transport? And it extremely surprising why the Calangute MLA and the Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo is backing and strengthening the unfair demand to virtually close out all other form of transportation businesses not just to feed their need, but even more , feed their greed. He led taxi owners to the Tourism director supporting their opposition to app-based taxis of KTC as well as a KTC bus service to the airport. His presence will act as a catalyst to validate the grossly unjust demands of taxi owners.
The Calangute MLA should not stretch this tussle too far. He should in fact play a role in ensuring that speed governors are made available and implanted, a level playing field and an open one, should be made available to all kind of transport services, which in turn will give more opportunities to Goans to get into the taxi and transport business, and above all, no taxi owner under his watch should dare say that taxi owners will paralyse Panjim if their demands are not met.
With the position he holds, he is not just an MLA but has responsibility towards all other Goans, across various groups, and constituencies. The state too has the duty to take decisions which are needed for Goa and Goans as a whole and not only for one pressure group like the taxi lobby. Let this message go out loud and clear.
