After three days of going-off road, Goa’s tourist taxi operators called off their strike on Sunday afternoon, following a written assurance from senior state BJP leader Michael lobo, who promised to resolve their demands by January 24.
lobo, a deputy speaker of the Goa legislative assembly and a BJP MlA, had earlier today, tried to broker peace between the striking taxi operators and Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, soon after which the strike was called off.
“We do not fully believe the Chief Minister, but we are withdrawing the strike following promises made by Michael lobo, who in a written assurance has promised to resign if his demands are not met, that all our demands will be fulfilled by State Government by January 24,” North Goa Tourist Taxi Association president Vinayak Nanoskar told reporters in Panaji, where the taxi operators have been staging a dharna for three days.
One of the main demands, Nanoskar said, was directing the transport department to allot fitness certificates to all tourist taxis, without outfitting them with speed governors in three days (January 24).
“This is our main demand right now and if the transport department does not give our taxis the fitness certificate, we will start a strike again,” Nanoskar said. The three-day taxi strike, which had crippled public transportation services for tourists and locals alike over the weekend, was called by tourist taxi operators in protest against harassment by police and transport department officials and mandatory installation of speed governors to their vehicles.
The Supreme Court order on speed governors on tourist taxis came last year, following a petition by Delhi-based NGO Suraksha Foundation. The order directed all state governments to ensure that taxis operating their jurisdiction are fitted with speed governors. In Goa, the deadline for installing speed governors is February 24.
Speaking to reporters lobo said that the state government would file an intervention petition in the apex court and seek relief for Goa’s cabbies from installing speed governors.
“We have decided to file an intervention petition and we are sure that the Supreme Court will accept our view that Goa has small roads, where speeding is difficult, so there is no need to install speed governors in the taxis operating here,” lobo told reporters.