Goa is witnessing a very rare people’s struggle. It’s a struggle of many Goans who make their living out of a goose which was hitherto golden – called tourism – against those who have all but pushed Goa’s tourism and its reputation to its nadir – the owners of tourist taxis. And the achievement of this struggle will be to identify that in this people versus people struggle (since the taxi owners call themselves, common men) will be to come out as better beings. In an agitation which is ostensibly to secure rights and livelihoods, if both the consumers of tourism and its providers (hoteliers, shacks, restaurants and allied services) are on one side and backing the government in its tough posturing and subsequent decision making, against the taxi owners, it tells its own story.
The script of the long drawn out saga of the steadfastness of taxi owners to be rigid in refusing to join a straight line of rules of engagement with the public, in a service which is all about the public, is long and bitter. Added to this is a confidence which has been built up over years of ineptitude, that the government will not go against them because of vote bank politics. This was seen at Azad Maidan when former Chief Minister Ravi Naik of the Congress, used the occasion to shamelessly ask taxi men to vote for the Congress, rather than address the issue.
While the focus of the ongoing agitation is the refusal of taxi owners to install speed governors inspite of a Supreme Court decision, a Central government notification and judgments of High Courts, the public sentiment against taxi owners has turned because of a consistent saga of their boorishness and high handedness with tourists, their refusal to follow a meter based fare system and their vehement opposition to app based taxi services which tourists all over the world are used to.
To be fair to both sides, the taxi owners have a right to be heard and one of their key points is about commercial vehicles being singled out, whereas private cars and two wheelers speed and drive recklessly, needs to be addressed.
In fact, in response to a petition in the Bombay High Court, against the installation of speed governors a division bench of Justices S M Kemkar and G S Kulkarni noted that speed governors was only one of the many solutions to ensure speed limits are being strictly followed by vehicles on the road. It stated, “By making speed governors compulsory, you (government) are taking care of the safety of taxi passengers only. What about the safety of pedestrians and other persons who travel by private vehicles? Do these vehicles follow the speed limit prescribed on every road?” Justice Kemkar said. But the court did not rule against their installation but stated that there should be proper availability before making them compulsory.
But one must understand that the decision to install speed governors is not a decision of the Goa government. While different taxi associations in parts of the country have agitated and protested, they have all complied with the directions of the court and the abided by central government notifications.
In January last year, the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) had said that notifications had been issued by the Supreme Court in 2002 and 2009 concerning installing speed governors in all commercial vehicles, but the directions were not followed by State governments
On April 15, 2015, the Union Ministry of Road Transport issued a notification, amending Section 118 of the Central Motor Vehicle rules, 1989, stating that all transport vehicles, manufactured on or after October 1 2015, should compulsorily install speed governors. As per the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, the maximum speed limit for commercial vehicles is 80kmph, while for those ferrying hazardous material it is 60kmph, 20kmph more than school buses. The smaller vehicles like motorcycles, private cars, three-wheelers have, however, been kept out of the speed governor ambit.
The Supreme Court has been very clear that this amended section 118 referred to above “should be strictly implanted without wasting any time”. High Courts like the Karnataka High Court in WP 41890 of 2015, issued directions for implementation of Rule 118 of Central Motor Vehicle rules and importantly recorded an undertaking by the authorities that no fitness certificates would be issued to transport vehicles without a speed governor.
It did the same in the case of YN Nanjappa Vs Union of India, State of Karnataka and others (WP 52082 of 2015), Para 27 of final order of Justices S K Mukherjee (Acting Chief Justice) and Ravi Malimath, “We feel that the authorities must implement Rule 118 of the said rules in its true spirit without any postponement and delay”. They went further to state in para 30: “The authorities are directed to take all effective steps to enforce Rule 118 of the said rules and ensure that speed limiting devices are installed on all applicable vehicles by the operators and sealed by appropriate authorities in such a manner so that it cannot be removed or tampered without breaking the seal”.
Moreover, the installation of speed governors is being directly monitored by a Supreme Court-appointed committee. The scope of argument and protest therefore does not lie with the State government since the Central Motor Vehicle rules cannot be amended in the Goa Assembly, either on the floor of the House or through an ordinance. Nor can a central government notification be nullified or cancelled by a State government.
With absolute precedence in the other High Courts and the Supreme Court, can any State government’s actions to please this current crop of taxi owner’s demands, stand the test and scrutiny of the courts?
Understandably the Congress, and certain members of the ruling dispensation, who went to the site of the agitation, Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, TCP minister Vijai Sardesai and RDA minister Jayesh Salgaocar were compelled to show solidarity for political reasons. But even they were rightly unable to show solidarity with their refusal to install speed governors. In fact the move to go to Azad Maidan, did not quite work to plan as the ministers and Deputy Speaker, were asked to come onstage and on refusal (because of obvious protocols) were at the receiving end of the taxi lobby.
Political parties like the Congress and other leaders are plunging head first suggesting that the Goa government take a decision not to install speed governors, without any grip of the issue and the decisions taken by the Union government and upheld by the High Courts and the Supreme Court. In short the demand of the taxi owners and parties supporting them is for Goa to behave like a rogue State.
At times the logic is almost childish like one politician stating that “our boys will not drive fast and if they do they can be challaned”. Try saying that to the Supreme Court. And if that is indeed the case, then let the taxi owners move the High Court and then the Supreme Court, keeping in mind how other High Courts and the Apex Court have hitherto settled this issue.
This isn’t an issue of whether the government can give into their demands or not. This isn’t some street fight or misunderstanding or a village dispute where the Chief Minister has to intervene and take a decision and end a strike and if by some warped logic the taxi stakeholders feel that this pressure will pay off when they will be forced to install digital meters, such thoughts should be buried forthwith.
Finally, this is being touted by the taxi lobby and their supportive politicians as a fight for real Goenkarponn. If the taxi lobby feels that installation of speed governors, as per central directives hits at Goenkarponn, then let us ask, are those who insist on taxis to be regulated, their speeds controlled and their exorbitant rates brought down, any less Goenkars?
They are niz goenkars too who work very hard to make an honest living off tourism and if that source of living is destroyed by the taxi owners of Goa, can it be termed as furtherance of Goenkarponn?
Let the taxi owners leave Azad Maidan and go incognito to the villages, the tintos and the bars of Goa with the honest purpose of asking people if they are happy with their stand of holding Goa and its tourism to ransom.
Let them ask if people are happy to see tourists walk for long dragging their baggage because there are no taxis. That’s when these Goans will get a reality check by many, many more true Goans and given a real lesson on what is Goenkarponn and what is clearly not.
