Editor, Goemkarponn
AERIAL VIEW
Now it has been almost 72 hours, and there has been no action from the State Government except for a few statements from the Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant and the Tourism Minister, Rohan Khaunte.
Khaunte tendering a public apology to tourists will not suffice, and neither will CM’s directing an inquiry going to help.
Why have no arrests been made in the MPT Cruise terminal incident so far? What are CM and Khaunte waiting for? Unless the taxi drivers are punished for such rude behaviour, they will not fall in line. What is CM waiting for, an inquiry report which will take ages?
SURAJ NANDREKAR
Editor, Goemkarponn
For decades now, Goan taxis have gained a dubious reputation as the “taxi mafia” for overcharging and duping tourists. Despite this, the State government, politicians as well as the locals were supportive of them as it is the only business which is still in the hands of Niz Goenkar, but sadly, the taxi community seem to be taking undue advantage of the support.
For any tourist destination to grow and the stakeholders to prosper, the first requirement is hospitality and politeness, and taxi drivers are the first point of contact for the incoming tourists – be they international or domestic, they are the ones who set the first impression.
What happened on Wednesday will go as a “Black Wednesday” for Goa’s Tourism Industry, wherein 100 United States Tourists were stopped from boarding a sightseeing bus forcing the tourists to cancel their sightseeing tour.
The news has gone viral since then. Not just nationally but internationally, the repercussions will be huge for such crude behaviour of a few taxi drivers. As an immediate consequence, we are told that three French cruise liners have cancelled their voyage to Goa. Why should the entire Goa suffer from a bad reaction of a few taxi drivers?
Now it has been almost 72 hours, and there has been no action from the State Government except for a few statements from the Chief Minister, Dr Pramod Sawant and the Tourism Minister, Rohan Khaunte.
Khaunte tendering a public apology to tourists will not suffice, and neither will CM’s directing an inquiry going to help.
Why have no arrests been made in the MPT Cruise terminal incident so far? What are CM and Khaunte waiting for? Unless the taxi drivers are punished for such rude behaviour, they will not fall in line. What is CM waiting for, an inquiry report which will take ages?
In our Indian tradition, we say “Atithi Dev Bhava”, which means Guests are our God. Is this How we treat God? Shame! (sic)
Today Goa is in a financial crisis; the mining is shut down, and tourism is at an all-time low after the COVID-19-infused lockdowns. As such, we all know the State is borrowings to even pay salaries to employees.
As Goan businesses see the peak Tourism season to solve their issues, here comes the MPT incident.
We built a Brand New Airport at Mopa to increase the number of flights and bolster tourism. The New airport is not going to help in any way unless we put out house in order.
Are we going to kill the golden goose of tourism with just behaviour?
The question further is, who is protecting the taxi operators in Goa? Why are they having such a monopoly over the business?
The Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho, instead of resolving the issues with taxi operators, just keeps threatening them, saying OLA and Uber are coming in a few days.
Arey baba, if you are serious and have no trust in local taxis, what are you waiting for? For our tourism to finish? Otherwise, get back to basics, talk to taxi guys, resolve their problems and see if it works. If you are satisfied that it won’t work anymore, take a decision.
And the decision has to be final, and it has to be in the interest of Goa and Goans and not for the businesses, parties or politicians.
