PANJIM: As the taxi strike enters its 11th day, the taxi operators, while hitting out at the Chief Minister, Transport Minister and Calangute MLA, called on the government to issue an order that fulfils their demand.
“Before anything can happen (negotiations), the State government has to come out with a policy and issue an order in that regard, which states that all App-based taxi services, online taxi aggregators and App-based rent-a-cab business are cancelled in Goa. We also want the order to state that henceforth, they will not be allowed in Goa in the future and that the licences that have been granted to such businesses be revoked immediately. Then we will sit and talk about the meters,” said a union taxi leader.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
They demanded that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant come to Azad Maidan and announce that GoaMiles is scrapped and then they will withdraw their strike.
The leader also said Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho was wrong in his assertion that App-based taxi services are there in all States and said it is there only in 9-10 metropolitan cities. “Even in Maharashtra, it is allowed only in metros of Mumbai and Pune and not elsewhere in the State,” a taxi leader added. The protestors also challenged Godinho to prove if digital meters are installed in tourist taxi vehicles anywhere in the country and said if it is implemented in Goa, it would be the first to do so.
They also alleged that Godinho was misleading the public on what the courts have asked taxi operators to do.
“The real reason for the digital meters is because the government wants to come out with its next money making scam. Mauvin is trying to divert the attention of the people. There will be a scam of crores of money in this matter,” they alleged.
The taxi operators also objected to Godinho rejecting their demand for holding a ‘live’ discussion and Godinho labelling such an event as a ‘tiatr’.
They further claimed that there is no clarity with the handing over the counter at the airport that will see GoaMiles not being allowed to use it; and pointed out that it was this government only that allowed GoaMiles to use that counter in the first place.
They mocked Calangute MLA Michael Lobo for asking them to withdraw their strike and said Lobo had used them by feeding them with empty promises. They said in that time he had become a Zilla Panchayat member, MLA, Minister and now wants to be the Chief Minister but they will no longer be caught up in his propaganda.
When asked for how long they will protest, given that women and children too have now joined the protest, the taxi operators said they will protest indefinitely.
“The Deputy Collector was telling us why we want to continue as now the government and public know of our issues. The Deputy Collector said that the COVID cases are rising etc. We asked him, are you’ll closing down the casinos, the airports, tourists from coming in. He asked us to shift somewhere; we asked him if there will be no COVID there? If the government was opting for a total lockdown, now that would have been a different matter but there isn’t one,” he added.
