Goemkarponn Desk
PANAJI: The North Goa district administration has imposed CrPC section 144 around the Manohar International Airport and nearby villages to prevent unlawful assembly for two months in view of a call for blocking its road given by people who have lost their land for the airport project.
The order under Section 144 that was issued yesterday will be in force for a period of 60 day unless withdrawn earlier. The order points out that taxi operators many of whom are land losers from Pernem Taluka, Mopa, Warkhand , Nagzar and Chandel are protesting under the banner of ‘Together for Pednekars’ demanding that they may be given first preference to register their taxis as Yellow Black Taxis and separate counter at Mopa airport and not to allow Ola and Uber Taxis to ply from the airport.
In a meeting held yesterday taxi operators had given ultimatum to the govt and warned of taking law in their hands if their demands were not met by today afternoon.
It may be recalled that the Pernem taxi owners and operators had placed their demand against levying any fees or taxes while announcing or notifying the taxi stand at the Manohar International Airport.
However, Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho has out rightly rejected the demand of the Pernem taxi men for waiving taxes. He said, “The question of waiver does not arise. There is no question of giving exemption to people from Pernem. GST applies to the entire State.”
With no taxi counter or tax waiver, the taxi operators on Monday geared up for a massive protest against the government’s apathy. They hit the streets in protest but this time near the Manohar International Airport. It has been nearly four months since our demand for a counter for yellow and black taxis was placed. However, the government has still not notified the counter, they said.
