NT Reporter | Panaji
With yet another incident of tourist harassment by taxi drivers going viral on social media, Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte on Wednesday called for an urgent change in the attitude of taxi operators if Goa is to remain a popular travel destination.
He said that if taxi drivers do not change their ways, they will “kill the goose that lays the golden egg.”
A shift in attitude, he said, would only come when MLAs stop viewing taxi operators as vote banks.
“Social media is playing up the taxi issue and it is definitely affecting the tourism trade in the state,”
said Khaunte.
Expressing frustration over the behaviour of some drivers, Khaunte said, “I wouldn’t call them taxi mafia. A few bad taxi drivers are spoiling the pitch for sensible drivers in the state. They need to be handled properly for the tourism industry to function,” he said, adding, “Dadagiri by the troublemaker taxi drivers will not be tolerated.”
Khaunte said that the recent taxi issue had been brought to the notice of the Chief Minister. “In the various promotion campaigns we undertake, the question asked is the same — is the taxi system in Goa under control?” said Khaunte.
Taxi booking apps such as GoaMiles have faced stiff opposition from local taxi operators, who have also resisted the entry of Ola and Uber.
A few days ago, German vlogger Alex Welder, who is travelling across India, shared a video on Instagram describing how he and his partner were harassed by local drivers at Patnem Beach after they tried to book a ride through the GoaMiles app. The government’s taxi aggregator guidelines introduced in April this year remain stalled due to opposition from the taxi community.
