------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | New on Goanet's website's A&E section - http://www.goanet.org | | Book in Review: A Kind of Absence - Joao da Veiga Coutinho | | POEM: SUSEGAAD - Cynthia Gomes James | | http://www.goanet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid!6 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.navhindtimes.com/stories.php?part=news&Story_ID=01166
N Goa taxi drivers threaten stir over meters NT News Service Mapusa Jan 15: If the government tries to implement the Tourism Minister, Dr Wilfred de Souza's suggestion to install fare meters on their taxis, the members of the Goa Tourist Taxi Association in North Goa will come out on the streets to resist the move with all their might. "Why discriminate only against the taxi drivers when other richer tourism businesses are fleecing the tourists?" asked the GOTTA vice-president, Mr Vasudev Arlekar. Operating from outside a popular resort at Calangute, Mr Arlekar and other tourist taxi drivers feel betrayed at the government's proposed clampdown on their trade. During the off season, hotels charge around Rs 2000 per room. Why does that tariff jump to Rs 7000 during the Christmas season? When will the government fit meters on these hotels? The taxi drivers show a brochure of a major tour operator in Goa which advertises a package of 'overnight adventures' at the rate of UK pounds 78 per person. The operator takes 40 persons on this two-day tour and at an approximate rate of Rs 80 per Pound, amasses around Rs 25,000 on a single trip. When will the government fit meters on these tours? We do not charge per person, we charge for the full taxi so why is the government targeting us who make Rs 1000 in a day? Also, we operate for only six months a year. There are more arguments. A single peg of Honeybee brandy costs Rs 80 to Rs 100 at a beach shack. Will the government also check this overpricing? There are six clubs around Calangute that charge around Rs 500 as entry fee during the off season. But during the peak season, the fee jumps to around Rs 1500. Will the government fix meters on these too? ask the taxi drivers. Mr Arlekar says that the tourist transport business is overcrowded and not lucrative anymore. Beside the 1500-odd tourist taxis and several smaller private tour operators there are at least 15 major tour operators in Goa. At a joint meeting late last year of the GOTTA and the tour operators at Kesarval in the presence of state ministers like Mr Joaquim Alemao, Mr Luizinho Faleiro and other government representatives, the GOTTA demanded a equal share in the business; three days in week for taxis and three days for tour operators. The tour operators agreed to follow this for one week but were supposed to give their final assent at another joint meeting on December 1 at the secretariat. Mr Arlekar says that the ministers and GOTTA members went for the meeting but the tour operators failed to turn up. The tour operators approached the High Court instead charging the taxi drivers for obstructing their buses. GOTTA members are amazed at how the tour operators got a list of the taxi drivers' names, a file of which, they had handed to the Tourism Minister. GOTTA members feel that instead of targeting poor taxi operators, the tourism ministry should work to boost tourism, first, by removing the River Princess and second, by repairing the badly dilapidated Calangute-Arpora road, part of which falls in the Saligao constituency. They say that over one-lakh vehicles travelled on the road on the evening of December 31. Finally, taxi operators feel that it is they who are the real friends of the tourists. "Often, tourists fall sick in their hotels. Or meet with accidents. The tour operators do not come then with their buses. It is we who rush them to doctors and hospitals," says Mr Arlekar. -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England Comment first it was the S. Goa taxi operators, now the N. Goa...who is running the tourist portfolio? Dr. Willly or the taxi wallahs? We shall soon find out!!
