PANJIM: Notwithstanding the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) invoked by the State government, around 15,000 tourist taxis stayed off the roads on Monday. The strike called by the All India Tourist Taxi Owners Association (AITTOA) will continue till Wednesday as government has failed to break the deadlock.
Around 9,000 members of the AITTOA, North and South Goa Tourist Taxi Associations also decided to stall business for the offshore casinos. “The taxi operators who are in contract with the offshore casino vessels to ply their staff and customers, were requested to join the strike and they obliged,” Vinayak Nanoskar, who is spearheading the strike, said.
The associations have resolved that if the government fails to heed to their demands till Wednesday, the strike will continue.
Coming to the rescue of the stranded passengers dependent on tourist taxis, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) and Kadamba Transport Corporation Limited (KTC) along with tourism stakeholders ensured that adequate bus services were provided at Dabolim airport to the tourist’s destinations. Both agencies pressed into service around 45 buses at Dabolim while the hotels pooled in vehicles to ferry tourists throughout the day.
Tourism department and GTDC categorically denied any inconvenience caused to tourists and reiterated that the strike was not successful. However, restaurants and shack operators were some of the affected stakeholders as tourists chose to remain indoors. Likewise other business’ carried out by vendors at tourist spots were affected due to absence of tourists at various tourism spots in the State.
“Tourist taxi operators are tourism ambassadors and should not resort to such adverse measures that send out a wrong signal to the world and prospective tourists planning holidays in Goa. Grievances raised by taxi operators will have to be looked into and the government could consider coming out with a policy with regards to taxi meters and vehicle rental business’ which they claim is affecting them,” GTDC Chairman Nilesh Cabral said.
Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) stated that taxi operators lost their business owing to the strike as it has affected them and not some other stakeholders.
“Hotels were not affected. Many alternative modes of transport were available to the tourists which were not available a few years back. Private cars driven by the same tourist taxi drivers, who are not plying their taxis, did a roaring business discreetly on their phone and dropped guests to various destinations,” TTAG President Francis De Braganca said.
