HERALD: What are your main objections to the Goa Miles app?
NAIK: Let me clear this first, we are not against the Goa Miles app and I say whoever wants join that taxi app are free to join. Our main concern is the parking space at the airport. For the past 5 years we have been demanding with the government to allot parking space to our taxis but nothing was done and now suddenly Goa Miles taxis have been allotted 7 parking slots. We are not against the app.
HERALD: What would be the best way to resolve this long pending issue of taxi?
NAIK: The state government should call each and every taxi operator and understand their concern and difficulties. Also they should call us and take our views into consideration before going ahead with any massive projects. Now we are also protesting for the Goa Miles Taxi counter at the airport because being an app based platform why does it need a counter.
HERALD: According to you who should run Goa’s taxi business?
NAIK: Goa is the first state to have its own taxi app that is Goa Miles; we do not have any problem with that, we just want to say that government should take us into confidence. Before 2012 there were three taxi counters – STC taxi service, yellow back and tourist taxi services – operating from Dabolim airport, however, due to support of the then and current Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar the STC counter was removed and both the taxi associations (yellow black and tourist taxis) combined to operate under single window taxi counter.
HERALD: All the taxi unions opposed Ola and Uber from coming into Goa and now they doing the same with Goa Miles?
NAIK: We opposed Ola and Uber from coning to Goa as it would have finished our business. Those types of services are best suited for metro cities and not Goa. We are the sons of the soil and the government should stand with us.
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HERALD: Why are the taxi unions objecting to the Goa Miles app?
CABRAL: I do not know as to why they are objecting to the Goa Miles app. First they opposed the Ola and Uber because they claimed it would eat into their revenue, we understood. Today the government has specially designed the app and I am facing the flack for no reason. I have done it for them because it is an aggregator for them to come free on board. We are not charging them. When we are not charging then I do not know what problem they have and who is instigating them. Goa Miles is intellectual property of Goa Tourism.
HERALD: What would be the best way to resolve this long pending issue of taxi?
CABRAL: I can’t resolve this issue, it the Goan taxi owners who should sit and resolve it. I will wait for them for some time, if they don’t want to come, we will be flooded with new taxi with new people. Today licensing is also very soft; today you do not require a batch for a taxi. Also if you have a personal driving license you can drive a taxi. We cannot throw out the system what we have started. I request them to come on board. They can come to my office and put forth their problems.
HERALD: According to you who should run Goa’s taxi business?
CABRAL: We do not want to run taxi business, we are just the facilitators. I have no interest in a taxi business, I am just a facilitator.
HERALD: All the taxi unions opposed Ola and Uber from coming into Goa and now they doing the same with Goa Miles, why is it?
CABRAL: You can’t compare Ola and Uber rates as they are not present in the entire state. They are in cosmopolitan cities. Today people are passing comments on Facebook and Twitter; they don’t understand that Ola and Uber are in metropolitan town like Mumbai. Here we are doing this in entire state. So we can’t do Ola and Uber for Panjim, here we are looking for a broader perspective.
