Team Herald
VASCO: Over 200 members of the North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (NGTTOA) blocked the exit point of the internal road access to Dabolim airport, paralysing the movement of traffic at the airport for over an hour on Friday. They were protesting the harassment meted to them by bouncers deployed by the contractor at the exit point.
At around 1 pm, a convoy of North Goa tourist taxis operators arrived at Dabolim airport, and soon after, one of them was stopped at the exit point by bouncers, who demanded excess-time charges. The taxi drivers then blocked the exit point demanding an explanation from the contractor about the need to deploy bouncers. They also expressed inability to come out of the airport premises within the five-minute time limit.
They said that the new airport terminal has one common access road for arrival and departure, and therefore, the internal road gets congested during peak hours and it becomes impossible for them to leave within five minutes of dropping their passengers.
“Earlier, the contractor used to exempt taxi operators and did not issue entry slips. However, the new contractor not only started issuing slips, but also started harassing the taxi operators. But the contractor crossed his limits when he deployed bouncers at the exit point to scare and harass us, thinking that we would keep quiet. They had no clue that we know how to react to injustice,” said Bappa Korgaonkar, spokesperson for the North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners’ Association (NGTTOA).
Passengers arriving and leaving the airport had to go through a tough time as not a single car was moving to and from the airport. Even traffic on the four-lane highway was severely affected. Many passengers complained that they had missed their flights, while many had to come onto the main road to find an alternate mode of transport.
Initially, police at Dabolim airport tried to handle to situation, but as they were unable to control the aggrieved taxi operators, Vasco SDPO DySP Mohan Naik, along with a police team from Vasco police station, rushed to the site. Initially, Naik asked his team to note down the license numbers of the taxis blocking the exit point so that their permits can be cancelled. Hearing this, the taxi drivers intensified their protest. They even told Naik that if their permits are cancelled, they would commit suicide and ask their family members to demand financial help from Naik.
After passengers started complaining, Airport Director K S Rao rushed to the site. The taxi drivers demanded immediate removal of the bouncers and that the Airport Authority of India (AAI) exempt tourist taxis and instruct the contractor not to issue them entry slips.
Later, Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco rushed to the site and a joint meeting was held in the office of the Dabolim airport PI. After an hour-long meeting, it was decided that the taxi operators would submit a representation before the AAI with two demands, including exempting taxi operators from paying parking charges and to increase the free access timing to 10 minutes from the existing five.
Before leaving, Reginaldo on behalf of the taxi drivers, said that the taxi drivers would give AAI eight days to fullfill their demands, failing which they would again paralyse traffic at Dabolimairport.
