NESHWIN ALMEIDA
neshwin@herald-goa.com
Kennedy Goes, former president of South Goa Tourist Taxi Association, speaking to the Herald reacting to the Travel and Tourism Associations move to go to court to implement taxi meters asserted that the Taxi Unions are open to installing meters but there are technical difficulties in doing the same which need to be resolved through the Weights and Measures Department.
November 1, 2016 was the fourth extension by the government to taxi owners to implement the amended motor vehicles act which makes it mandatory for taxi owners to install Global positioning systems (GPS) and fare meters to bill a customer.
Owing to the fourth extension and the feet dragging attitude of the Transport Minister Ramakrishna, alias Sudin, Dhavalikar who told the Herald that he will provide another extension, which has irked the TTAG and led by its President Savio Messias, the tourism stakeholder’s body was to move court today to ensure that a judicial intervention will get the meters installed.
TTAG decided to take a stern hand since a Chinese diplomat Bin Tao who visited Goa on September 30 on the build-up to the BRICS summit to check arrangements was harassed by the taxi mafia which was resolved at Zuri White Sands, Varca only after the police intervened on behalf of Leisure Holidays. And also U-17 World Cup organising FIFA Chief Javier Ceppi was stopped at Park Hyatt, Arossim by a group of taxi drivers and later a case of harassment has been filed at the Verna Police station.
“Owing to the court vacation during the Diwali season, we’re unable to move court currently, we will take the legal recourse immediately when the court resumes and will ensure that the meters are installed and tourists are not harassed,” asserted Savio Messias.
Kennedy explains to us that a 2014 Gazette by the government fixes different rates for different category of vehicles ranging from Rs 14 to Rs 22 for taxis categorised on the basis of SUV, luxury, super luxury or even AC and non-AC cars.
“Now the so called pulsing of the meters available in Goa is to bill at Rs 14 per km and how do you expect this to be used for a vehicle like an Innova that has a tariff of Rs 22 per kms or for that matter a Swift DZire that bills around Rs 18 per km. We want the meters installed but the government needs to provide us meters with different pulsing or billing variants,” stated President of the South Goa Tourist Taxi Association (SGTTA), Vincent Carvalho.
While the taxi Association General Secretary Roque Fernandes explained to us that in the year 2014, all these difficulties were explained at a special meeting to the then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and he had assured us that these issued will be resolved before the gazette or installing of meters but they blamed Dhavalikar and Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar for dragging their feet on this matter.
“And if the government believes that meters can crackdown on overpricing by taxi drivers than the government also needs to crack down on illegalities by tour operators and illegal private vehicles that are used as cabs and for rental and only then can this government be serious on implementation of meters in cabs,” asserted an angry Roque.
Roque and Vincent also make us understand that a hostility between TTAG and taxi drivers has also made it difficult to break the deadlock and bring certain consensus on installation of taxi meters.
“Nine years back we had meters but they were of bad quality and after spending a lot they would break down, so we urged the government to identify a good vendor and customise the pulsing based on our vehicles variant,” stated Vincent.
