Team Herald
PANJIM: The Goa government has decided to increase the taxi fleet by roping in around 1000 new vehicles to encourage entrepreneurship among unemployed youth. The proposal also aims at providing better public transport system.
Speaking to mediapersons, Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho said that the taxi operators are the ambassadors of Goa and that the entire fraternity should not face the heat because of a few black sheep.
“We have several youth all over Goa looking to start a business. They can become young entrepreneurs in taxi services. Under the CM’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Swayampurna Goa Scheme, 1,000 youth will become self-reliant within one year. We intend to take 1,000 taxis on board,” the Transport Minister said.
“The initiative will help rural areas where there is lack of public transport,” he said.
Godinho said that with commissioning of Manohar International Airport at Mopa, which has connected Goa with 30 new cities, the demand for taxi service is on rise. “Also, Dabolim Airport is bringing huge crowd. Navy has also agreed to give us more slots for landing at Dabolim,” he said.
The government has also decided to hire private buses which will boost the public transport service. With this, older buses and taxis are set to be phased out, he said. Under the proposed scheme, the Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL) will hire private buses on a temporary basis given that purchasing new KTCL buses is not feasible for the cash-crunched State government.
