Goemkarponn desk
PANAJI: Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho on Tuesday sternly advised to revoke the taxi licences of all those vehicles that fail to install digital meters and vehicle location tracking (VLT) devices in a timely way, pleading with his colleagues not to act as protectors of tourist taxi operations.
The government will soon introduce a multimodal transport aggregator app, according to Godinho, which will assist users in selecting from a variety of public transportation options for last-mile connections.
“MLAs must stop acting protectively. I’m not promising to use Ola and Uber. Will we provide affordable transportation to the people of Goa or will we be persuaded by these 6000 or 8000 taxi drivers? They are also advocates for tourism in my opinion.
During the Transport demands, Godinho said, “We need to protect them, but not to the point where we kill the goose that lays the golden eggs (tourism).”
According to Godinho, the Central Motor Vehicle Rules of 1989, Rule 125(H), and the Union Road Transport Ministry have made it mandatory to install VLT devices and emergency buttons, and the High Court’s judgment has made digital meters mandatory.
“The cab drivers can go to court and request a relaxation if they so choose. No authority exists for the state government to modify this choice. Godinho remarked as numerous MLAs from the ruling and opposition benches encouraged the government to look into the taxi issue in relation to meters and VTL devices.
“I remember giving taxi operators lots of exemption from taxes and other concessions, but now they will have to pay it,” Godinho said.
The Minister stated that the annual maintenance fees for taxi operators will be Rs. 2894, the annual data fees will be Rs. 1050, and there will be additional fees of Rs. 710, for a total of Rs. 4654.
“The functionality of the data will stop if they don’t pay the fees. The system has to be updated. We are merely carrying out the command. This is basically a new justification for cab drivers to not utilize the meters, and doing so would be considered contempt of court. If they fail to renew and fail to use the meter.
“We won’t have any choice but to revoke the taxi permits,” he added.
The Minister expressed his amazement at MLAs stepping forward to support taxi operators’ requests. “I’m not stooping down…In my capacity as Minister of Goa, not one constituency…They must adhere to the rules.I might get a horrible reputation, but I have no choice,” he remarked.
Godinho stated that 100 young people will be given jobs under the comprehensive Goencho Taxi Patrao scheme as they receive their taxi cars on Wednesday.
Godinho acknowledged that the State is now experiencing a deficit of 250 buses in response to the concern expressed by the MLAs on the scarcity of buses, which cut across party lines. A further 100 KTC buses, all of which are older than 15, would be taken off the road, he added.
He bemoaned the lack of interest in the Mhaji Bus program. Despite this, we will shortly implement the program over all of Goa, as opposed to our earlier plan to merely provide it on three routes. Since there are financial implications, the decision will be made in a later cabinet meeting, he said.
According to Godinho, the State will get 48 more electric buses as part of the Smart City Mission by December in addition to 99 electric buses.
