MARGAO: The Colva gram sabha besides resolving to revoke the NOC given by the panchayat to set up the sewerage treatment plant in the village also decided against having Goa Miles taxi service operating in the village which they said was detrimental to the future of local youth.
Treasurer of Colva Tourist Taxi Owners Association Johnny Rodrigues while arguing that Colva has a good transport service network with tourist taxis, black and yellow taxis and rickshaws operating, said the Goa Miles taxis are proving to be a hindarance.
“While the present transport system is all owned and operated by ethnic Goans, the Goa Miles service is operated by migrants living either in Fatorda or Sao Jose de Areal and they will destroy the Goan self employed youngsters,” said Johnny.
He pointed out that about a fortnight back 15 Goa Miles taxis with 30 migrants came to Colva and started bullying the locals following which the police had to intervene and drive away the intruders. He also pointed out while other taxi drivers have a badge and an uniform these are not made mandatory for those operating Goa Miles.
The Sarpanch Antonio Leo Fernandes agreed to write to the concerned authorities including the Tourism Department about the people’s demand not to have Goa Miles operating in Colva.
The villagers led by Thomas Rodrigues also demanded that the panchayat withdraw the NOC given to set up the sewerage treatment plant in Colva. He pointed out that the site was bad as it was low lying and would result in the entire ward No. 4 becoming a stinking zone if the plant comes there.
He pointed out that the proponents have not complied with the various condition imposed in the NOC besides have not got a conversion sanad nor have any technical sanction and hence argued that the panchayat ought to revoke the NOC. The sarpanch agreed to do so after discussing the matter at the next body meeting.
The proposal by Power Minister Nilesh Cabral to take over maintenance and extension of the street lights by the department by charging Rs. 0.05 per unit from domestic consumers and Re. 0.08 from commercial consumers with the panchayat stopping collecting the light tax from the inhabitants was discussed at length without any conclusion.
While there were some people who were in favour of it others objected to it pointing out that the maintenance and service at present was pathetic with the service provider not attending to issues for days.
