Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
As per the notification of the Transport department, the following are the SUV Regular rates like Creta, Ecosport, Thar, Innova (Old), Marazzo, Tata Aria, Jeep Compass, Duster, Ertiga and Bolero.
The rate for four hours and 50 kilometres is ₹ 1500/-;
The Full Day is four hours, and 100 kilometres is ₹2900
Per Kilometer, the rate is ₹32 for SUVs, and without a return journey, it is ₹43.
So if the government already has rates notified, where does the question of the increased fare and levying taxes come from?
The two ministers – Khaunte and Godinho, had embarked on a journey to finish Taxi Monopoly as they felt the tourists were being looted and wanted tourists visiting Goa to get a better deal.
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
Last week Goa woke up to another taxi horror, a customer being charged an insane taxi charge of ₹ 4148.50 for a ride from the New Manohar International Airport at Mopa North Goa to Benaulim.
According to the Bill, the fare was just ₹3227.14. Since the travel was in the Day, there was no night charge.
Further, the Service Fee of Rs 484.07 was charged on the Bill, a 5% GST of ₹161.36 was charged on the fare, while an 18% GST of ₹115.93 was charged on the Service Charge. Shocking, isn’t it?
Nonetheless, this brought the total to ₹4148.50.
For a 65.86-kilometre distance from Mopa to Benaulim, a charge of ₹49 was levied, which is ₹6 above the normal charges notified by the Department of Transport, Govt of Goa.
A whopping ₹921.36 was in the form of taxes in the Bill.
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte and Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho justified the Bill as it was a premium taxi used by the passenger.
As per the notification of the Transport department, the following are the SUV Regular rates like Creta, Ecosport, Thar, Innova (Old), Marazzo, Tata Aria, Jeep Compass, Duster, Ertiga and Bolero.
The rate for four hours and 50 kilometres is ₹ 1500/-;
The Full Day is four hours, and 100 kilometres is ₹2900
Per Kilometer, the rate is ₹32 for SUVs, and without a return journey, it is ₹43.
So if the government already has rates notified, where does the question of the increased fare and levying taxes come from?
The two ministers – Khaunte and Godinho, had embarked on a journey to finish Taxi Monopoly as they felt the tourists were being looted and wanted tourists visiting Goa to get a better deal.
However, in this bargain to get the Goa App, they forgot their real purpose. In fact, with such kinds of Bill, the loot of tourists and passengers has become official and not Taxi Mafia, as the two claimed earlier. It can now be called Govt-Sponsored loot of the tourists.
Consider if the same Bill was given by the Goan taxi driver, the same ministers would have gone hammer and tongs and could have even jailed the taxi driver. Isn’t this true, Mr Godinho? Mr Khaunte?
Blaming Goa Electronic Limited (GEL) and calling it teething problems would not suffice as people have now started calling the two Govt Taxi Mafia.
To sum it up, The New Mopa Airport, which should have set the trend and given a good bargain to the tourists for commuting to and fro the airport, has now become the victim government’s hunger to enter the taxi business on its own.
Instead of providing relief to the tourists and public, the two ministers seem to have now seen an opportunity for…
Following this saga, the Goans now feel that the rates charged by their own taxi brothers were much better than the ones charged by the Govt Taxi mafia.
It is high time Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant, who had handed over the job to his two colleagues, intervened and resolved the issue.
