SME Times News Bureau | 22 Jan, 2018
Goa's tourist taxi operators on Sunday withdrew their strike
following a written assurance that pending fitness certificates would be issued
to all tourist taxis by January 24 and the government would stop installation
of speed governors on their vehicles.
The three-day strike, which caused immense hardship to tourists and locals, was
called off soon after representatives of the taxi operators met Chief Minister
Manohar Parrikar, along with Deputy Speaker Michael Lobo, at the Chief
Minister's official residence here.
"We are only withdrawing the strike after a written assurance by Lobo,
that he would resign from the BJP if the promise to provide fitness
certificates to all taxi operators, without fitting of speed governors by
January 24.
We still do not believe the Chief Minister, but we are giving the government an
opportunity to right the wrong," Laxman Korgaonkar, spokesperson for the
North Goa Tourist Taxi Association, told reporters here.
The strike had started on Friday, in order to protest against mandatory fitting
of speed governors and alleged harassment by police and transport officials, he
added.
Lobo told reporters that as far as installation of speed governors is
concerned, the state government would file an intervention petition in the
Supreme Court, seeking relief for the taxi drivers in Goa, where speeding is
not "possible" since it is a "small state and has narrow
roads".
The Supreme Court order on speed governors on tourist taxis came last year,
following a petition by Delhi-based NGO Suraksha Foundation. The state
Transport Department had refused to provide fitness certificates to taxis, without
speed governors fitted to them.
Parrikar also told reporters that the state government was also of the opinion
that fitting of speed governors to tourist taxis was not feasible and that the
same would be presented before the apex court.
"We do not have an issue with presenting this view before the Supreme
Court... We are not ourselves convinced that 80 km per hour speed limit will
change anything on ground. It actually should be 100 km," he said, adding
that taxis were not majorly involved in accidents in the state.
He also said, that the state government would exercise a provision in the newly
amended Motor Vehicles Act, to allow taxi drivers more time to fit speed
governors to their vehicles.
Earlier, Congress President Shantaram Naik met Parrikar and sought his
intervention to end the strike.
On Saturday, Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar had warned taxi drivers to
call off their strike, failing which he said app-based taxi operators would be
requested to start their services in the coastal state which attracts more than
six million tourists every year.