PANJIM: Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho on Saturday said that he has already asked the Director of Transport to cancel the permits of taxi operators found involved in clashes with the tour operators outside the Mormugao Port.
He said that he will take up the issue of the involvement of the leader (Mormugao MLA Sankalp Amonkar) before the BJP during its core committee meeting.
He said, “Incident of taxi operators clashing with tour operators and blocking international tourists from boarding coaches outside the gate of Mormugao Port has put us all in shame. It has pulled Goa down from its image as a preferred destination.
Some leaders are tendering apologies when actually taxi owners should apologise,” he said indirectly referring to MLA Sankalp Amonkar apologising for the unfortunate incident.
Godinho said that he has already asked the Director of Transport to cancel the permits of two taxi drivers Omkar Durbhatkar and Akash Honnavarkar who were arrested by the police on the charge of assaulting the bus driver, pending an inquiry. If both the drivers are found guilty following the inquiry, then they will not be issued permits in the future, he said.
The Transport Minister also expressed his unhappiness at the Mormugao DySP Salim Shaikh’s statement that there was a miscommunication. Even if there was a miscommunication, the taxi operators had no right to misbehave and stop the bus. Police should have taken action and not tried to defend themselves. It’s very wrong on the part of the police to cover up and not do anything to balance.
The Minister said that the Goa Taxi App is on cards and the proposal will be discussed and approved in the next Cabinet meeting.
Choice of the mode of transport should be of the commuter, as per HC order: Ralph de Sousa
Reiterating that the choice of the mode of transport should be of the commuter as per the order of the High Court of Bombay at Goa, the GCCI President Ralph de Sousa has requested the government to provide adequate police protection at the cruise terminal so as to avoid the recurrence of such incidents in future.
The GCCI stated that it was the first time that criminal proceedings were initiated in the shortest possible time and the culprits were arrested.
It requested more arrests and a speedy trial of the accused so that a stern message is passed to all concerned.
The GCCI has urged the government to make the GTDC counter at the Mormugao cruise terminal operational and to allow only registered vehicles to conduct business.
Political interference of MLAs will destroy tourism sector:
Savio Messias
Former Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Savio Messias on Saturday said that the government was playing a cruel joke on the international tourists visiting the State and that the political interference of MLAs would destroy the tourism sector.
The former TTAG president alleged that a political game is being played at a heavy cost where the name of Goa is spoiled both – at national and international levels.
He recalled that in one of the meetings, a police inspector had once said that a taxi driver had charged $ 1000 dollars for a trip from the Mormugao Port to Vasco town thus bringing a bad name.
