Team Herald
PANJIM: With the taxi operators going on strike on Friday, Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTCL), as well as the private buses, came to the rescue of hundreds of locals, especially office-goers, students as well as tourists.
The additional traffic had resulted in extra income for the private bus operators, according to sources.
As taxis went off the road, hundreds of tourists across Panjim preferred to use the alternate mode for shorter routes across Panjim. This resulted in huge demand for auto rickshaws as drivers made quick money by over-charging passengers.
As Herald visited the Kadamba Bus Terminus at Panjim during the peak hours, it was witnessed that the buses ferried in more passengers as compared to normal days. It was also seen that majority of the tourists were taking buses to reach their destinations.
Manikanth Dunaka, a tourist from Telagana, who is on five-day visit to the state, said that he was unable to travel comfortably as the taxis went off roads while also claiming that he was over charged by the rickshaw operators on the Panjim bus stand.
“I was shocked to know that there are no Ola and Uber services available here in Goa. I had to travel to Panjim by bus which was very uncomfortable. As we moved to the rickshaw stand here it came to our notice that rickshaw operators were over-charging passengers. This is completely unfair and the government must get into this and solve the issue,” said Dunaka.
Further it was also revealed that KTCL deployed 25 buses to carry airport passengers and seven buses to connect railway stations.
Strike passes off peacefully
MARGAO: The tourist taxi owners strike passed off peacefully in Salcete with not a single untoward incident reported. In the morning the black and yellow taxis were seen ferrying passengers while in the afternoon even these stayed away from the roads.
At the Konkan Railway Corporation Station at Margao not a single tourist taxi was seen but the black and yellow taxis were in attendance and also ferried quite a few passengers. In fact the yellow and black taxis made 43 trips till 6 pm.
Colva, called the Calangute of South Goa, literally wore a deserted look. Although in the morning the black and yellow taxis were seen getting passengers from Margao, they were not seen in the afternoon and even rickshaws were absent in Colva.
Arvind Gawas, Superintendent of Police South, opined that the black and yellow taxis stayed off the road in the afternoon due to fear that they may be targeted in the future and also because there was not much business as tourists also did not want to venture out in such an atmosphere.
Tourists use buses in North
MAPUSA: Since the government had already made provision of transport for the tourists, going off the road decision of taxi association did not created much impact on the tourists.
A foreign national said, “We hired an auto rickshaw from Dabolim airport to reach Panjim. We then reached Calangute using a bus. Now we will hire a scooter to visit places in Goa.”
Visitors bear the brunt in Ponda
PONDA: The Tourist Taxis, operating from the Maruti Temple Ponda and Ponda Bus Stand participated in the day-long strike. Tourists residing in hotels were inconvenienced as taxis were not available and were advised to use public transport.
Ponda Police had made bandobast at the Taxi Stand and some tourist spots in Ponda, including temples, spice farms, tourist cottages at Farmagudi, etc, to prevent any unwanted incident.
Life as usual
in Canacona
CANACONA: The strike didn’t have much effect on the tourists as well as locals in Canacona as everyone was aware and had made alternate arrangements, however, all taxis remained off-road in the taluka.
Teams of police personnel were seen posted at strategic places of touristic importance at Rajbagh, Patnem, Palolem and Agonda and also at Chaudi the administrative centre of Canacona taluka. Dayanand Pagi, councillor from Palolem, said that it was business as usual since the strike was announced earlier.
Nilesh Naik, a taxi operator at Rajbagh said, “All the taxis from Canacona kept their vehicles off the road and most of them attended the meeting in the capital to show support to their demands of the protesting taxi operators to exempt them from the Supreme Court order of installing speed governors and for RTOs to stop “harassing” them to implement this rule.”
