On the fourth day of their indefinite strike at Azad Maidan, the protesting taxi owners, who received support from the All Goa Private Bus Owners Association (AGPBOA) and various political parties, refused to back down and instead vowed to intensify their agitation.
Reacting to the charges levelled against them by Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho and others in power, the taxi owners said they are not scared of the threats being made against them and rejected the government’s allegations.
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“They say they will cancel some of our licenses and permits? Let them. We will all surrender our licences en-masse. We are not bothered with their threats,” taxi union leader Laxman Korgaonkar said.
He also rejected the charge that they overcharge and said even if one-two have done so, it doesn’t mean all of the over 20,000 Goan taxi drivers/owners are guilty of doing so and thus their reputation is being unfairly tarnished.
Taxi owners said they were following the old approved rates and said their charge is fair and not exorbitant as it is being alleged.
“We have told the government to put on a website the fixed rates they speak of. Be it from hotel to hotel trip or a trip from the airport to any destination. Let the customers check the government website for these rates. That way there is no problem. However, this government doesn’t want to meet us,” said a taxi union leader.
Other taxi union leaders called on the Transport Minister to come to Azad Maidan and debate with them.
They said the government did not take them into confidence while bringing in GoaMiles but have to explain to the agitators why the taxi aggregator cannot be scrapped.
“The question is not whether we will or we will not install meters. That is secondary. First let them scrap GoaMiles and then we will discuss with them about the meters,” said a protestor.
The taxi union leaders also hit back at the Minister talking about how the issue of installing meters was as per the Court’s directive and said the Minister should first be looking at addressing their grievances.
“The Minister is talking about how the government spent Rs 30 plus crore on digital meters. That is our money only (public taxpayers money),” said Korgaonkar.
While AGPBOA showed its support to the protesting taxi operators, members of the yellow and black taxi owners were also present at the protest.
Several politicians such as Goa Forward Party MLAs Jayesh Salgaonkar and Vinod Palyekar, Aam Aadmi Party leaders Pratima Coutinho, Goa Congress president Girish Chodankar and spokesperson Amarthan Panjikar were amongst those who interacted and spoke to the protesting taxi operators.
BJP Calangute MLA and Minister Michael Lobo was targeted for his written promise during the taxi operators last protest on solving their grievances.
