Dear Hon. Chief Minister of GoaLaxmikant Parsekar We were very happy that this woman taxi service had started well and sad to hear now with many complaints. This must be investigated and ensure that this service must continue to run by the Govt ( GTDC) and not by a private agency. Whatever dues are to be paid to them must be done immediately and that the woman hostesses those who have left or removed must be taken back in service. This is an excellent service for woman passengers in Goa, which is first in the country, and it needs to be well maintained. Night service should be disallowed until it works well and male passengers should be restricted in the woman taxis. Stephen DiasD.Paula Women taxi service hits a roadblock
Posted by: Navhind Times <http://www.navhindtimes.in/author/user/> January 9, 2015 in Goa News <http://www.navhindtimes.in/category/goanews/> PANAJI: The operations of the women taxi service, which were started recently by Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC), have suffered a setback with some women hostesses alleging that they have not been paid their salaries for two months and forced to carry male passengers during nights. Addressing a press conference in the city on Thursday, the travel hostesses and Fr Freddy Braganza, the in-charge of a church body Centre for Responsible Tourism (CRT), said that the services of two travel hostesses have been illegally terminated while others have not been paid their salaries since the last two months. Of the ten air-conditioned taxis, which were launched in October to cater to North Goa, only five are presently operating. Similarly, in South Goa, out of the four taxis, only one is functional, said travel hostess Whitney Fernandes. Blaming the GTDC project for the “scam or scheme,” Fr Meverick Fernandes, the in-charge of Caritas, under which the CRT functions, said that the GTDC has misled the travel hostesses and that the project is not an initiative operated under the aegis of GTDC, but was given on contract to a private firm. “Instead of making them entrepreneurs as they had claimed, they have opened doors for private taxi operators and made the women employees,” he said. Strongly criticising the initiative of GTDC, Fr Braganza said that the public has been misled. “GTDC has falsely claimed that the women’s taxi service is owned and operated by it, but in reality it is operated under the aegis of Green Earth Trans Logistics Private Limited, a Mumbai-based road transportation company,” he said. Distressed with the job insecurity and irregular payment of salary, a travel hostess Anita Vaz said that her service, along with that of another travel hostess,’ Shamli Naik, has been terminated a week ago since they both raised their voice against the false promises made regarding the payment of salary of Rs 15,000. Vaz said that there was a huge difference between this sum, which was assured to them during their training, and the actual salary paid to them, which was Rs 6,000. She also said that they were neither given a weekly off day nor paid for the overtime hours. “We were warned not to reveal the fact to the media that we have been recruited under a private contractor on a condition that the service will be regularised under GTDC. Unfortunately, nothing has happened yet,” she said. Vaz’s colleagues have now decided to stop driving the cabs until their demands for job security, regulated salary, enhanced safety and insurance cover are met. Denouncing the act of GTDC for neglecting the safety of the hostesses at night, Vaz said that the promise of providing secure cabs has not been fulfilled either. “The panic button, which was installed, does not function and the emergency phone cannot be operated after 7 pm. We do not feel safe on the roads at night. Though the cabs are equipped with state of the art technology ensuring safety, none of the equipment is functional. Though we were directed to drive the cabs from 8 am to 6 pm, we have been forced to drive them from the early morning hours until late night,” she said. The claim that the cabs would cater only to women, families and couples is completely false, said Fernandes, who has resigned along with three other travel hostesses – Gracy Dourado, Shobha Joshi and Rajashree Chari, as they were forced to drive at night with male passengers without any security. Refuting the charges made by CRT, GTDC chairman Nilesh Cabral said that some disgruntled elements are trying to malign the Corporation by levelling false and frivolous charges. “There is no question of any falsification with regard to the employees as the management has never claimed that the appointment as travel hostesses is on GTDC or government payroll. This is a GTDC initiative and the employees have been appointed by Green Earth Trans Logistics Pvt Ltd,” he said. Suspecting the handiwork of some envious transport lobbies out to malign the image of GTDC as the women taxi service initiative had become a success story within a short period of time with safety, security and efficiency being its main features, an official source slammed the CRT for making irresponsible statements.
