The transport minister of Goa Mauvin Godinho made it clear that the state Government will not succumb to the pressure from Goa Tourist Taxi Operators and Goa Miles will not be scrapped under any circumstances.
According to the reports, Transport minister Mauvin Godinho on Wednesday said that the GoaMiles taxi services will continue to operate irrespective of the opposition from tourist taxi operators. His statement comes in the wake of the demand by tourist taxi drivers’ unions to scrap GoaMiles.
“They cannot ask us to throw GoaMiles in the sea. This is an impractical demand. They cannot hold a gun to our head and say, ‘Do this or we will block the roads’,” he said.
The statement of the minister came on the backdrop of the agitation initiated by the Goa Tourist Taxi Operators to scrap Goa’s first and only APP based Taxi service Goa Miles.
He also warned the tourists taxi operators to behave responsibly as they are the true ambassadors of the tourism industry. “This is not the behaviour I expect of the taxi union leaders. They have to be more responsible because they are the real ambassadors of the tourism industry. They are answerable for their behaviour,” he said.
The clashes between GoaMiles and Tourist taxi operators is not the new story anymore as the reports keep flashing in the media on a daily basis about the tussle between the taxi operators and APP based taxi service in Goa.
Mr Godinho also made it clear that the state administration will not succumb to the terms dictated by the Taxi Operators. “nobody can take law in their hands” and “dictate to the government what is to be done” and reminded how app-based taxis like Ola and Uber were not allowed in Goa only because the taxi operators were against it.
Meanwhile about the installation of meters on the taxis he said that he will be calling the Taxi Unions and stakeholders to take into confidence before starting the installations of digital meters on the taxis and take their views on how to streamline the taxis to be run at the airport.
“The tourism counter which was being operated at the airport must be handed over by the tourism department to the airport authorities and they can hand it over to the transport department,” Godinho said adding that “The government will streamline the running of the taxis at the airport in a manner that is satisfactory and acceptable by all the stakeholders in the taxi trade. But demands like ‘scrap GoaMiles’ will neither help the taxi operators nor their cause.”
