Station director of the Dehradun railway station Ganesh Chandra said that after the payment of pending charges to the railways, the operation of taxis at Dehradun railway station will be done in a more systematic way. He further stated that these taxis have only been allotted parking space for five vehicles. Now they will be tagged with unique numbers which will make it easier for the unauthorised taxis to be identified.
Giving further information about the payment Chandra said, the taxis are to pay per taxi Rs 2,030 every month. The pending payment for 51 months was around Rs 5,17,000 and after adding 18 percent GST, the total became Rs 6,10,000. They have done the complete payment. When asked about the future of taxi stand after the yard remodelling work at the Dehradun Railway station gets completed, he said that if the taxi unions agree to pay monthly payment in advance then they will be allotted similar space for parking five of their taxis. A written official permission letter also will have to be issued by the division head. It is pertinent to mention here that taxi union at Dehradun Railway station had earlier claimed that they only park five taxis at a given time, but under the pretext of being in their union other taxi owners also used to park there. A Railway official stated that by tagging five taxis with their unique identification tags, it will be easier to keep the unauthorised vehicles at bay. The union also, once started paying in advance on monthly basis will not allow anyone else to take passengers on their behalf.
It is also important to mention here, for the time being the taxis are taking local passengers, commuters and tourists from Mussoorie Bus Stand. The union representative said that they are shifting their parking space according to the ongoing work.