TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Nearly 7000 taxis operators have threatened to keep their vehicles off the road on February 24, if the State government does not withdraw permissions granted to Ola Cab services within the next 48 hours, with prospects of disrupting normal life.
The strike call has been given by yellow & black taxi operators and All Goa tourist taxi operators, who have accused the government of depriving them from their traditional business by introducing Ola Cab and women’s taxi services in the State.
The North Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (NGTTOA), South Goa Tourist Taxi Owners Association (SGTTOA) and the Federation of Tourist Taxi Owners and Drivers Goa (FTTAG) along with Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT), a church-backed body, on Wednesday held a meeting that unanimously opposed the introduction of Ola Cabs but also any other form of external sourcing of cabs.
During the press briefing Wednesday afternoon, the taxi operators declared that they would organize themselves under a cooperative model that will deal with business issue and will also look into the social welfare of taxi operators.
Speaking to media persons, NGTTOA general secretary Vinayak Nanoskar said that Goa has a unique tourist taxi system that creates livelihoods to the local self-employed taxi operators. He said that government has given a back-door entry to Ola Cabs thus depriving the Goan taxi operators of livelihood. “We strongly opposed this move. We warn the government to withdraw the permission to Ola Cabs within the next 48-hours, failing which we will hold one-day strike on Monday,” he announced.
The meeting also raised the issue of government inaction and failure to implement promises that had been made in the wake of recent clashes between illegal Russian operators and local taxi drivers. “CM’s assurance that there will be surprise raids conducted, has not been fulfilled,” he said questioning why government is silent on the issue.
CRT convener Dr Maverick Fernandes said that the meeting has decided that all local taxi operators will unite to create a new system of operations in the next 6-month. He said that the system will be in line with well established systems in popular destinations around the world.
Government decision to force taxi operators to pay lifetime taxes when the taxi operator is applying for conversion into a private vehicle was also objected to.
