PANAJI: Foreign tourists coming to Goa have been caught between the crossfire between South Goa taxi operators and tour operators. Result: many, who have come here from thousands of miles, are confined to their hotel rooms in the coastal areas of Salcette lest they be targeted by militant taxi owners.
The taxi operators have been protesting that they've been getting no business with tour operators -who bring in charter tourists -hiring their own coaches or organising private taxis to take foreign tourists on sightseeing trips and excursions around the state. Tour operators accusing them of fleecing tourist have chosen to make their own arrangements. The result is that taxi operators have taken their taxis off the roads and have stopped coaches and private taxis, forced foreigners to disembark stranding them and have beaten up the drivers. On Thursday police took into custody four taxi drivers for allegedly assaulting a Toyota Qualis at Benaulim, south Goa.
The president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, Charles Bonifacio said that foreign tour operators were contemplating cancellation of tours to the state following an assault on their nationals by taxi operators. He claimed that the British government had taken a serious view of the difficulties their citizens had been subjected to over the last three days.
Tour operators have criticised the government and police and accused them of standing silently by despite tourism, which is Goa's main revenue earner, being hit badly. The chief of a top travel agency in Goa told DNA, "This is business, I can hire any taxi I want for my guests or I can hire a coach. It's my choice. Besides it's because the taxi operators are fleecing the tourists that we made our own arrangements. Also the taxi operators indulge in dadagiri." The belligerent taxi operators say they upgraded their cars for the comfort of tourists taking huge loans. "If we don't get business how can we repay the loans?" Their other argument is: "Give business to the sons of soil."
But ironically they began to turn on the "sons of the soil" - taxi drivers from North Goa, who are seen as a more professional lot, were targeted on Thursday. They were not allowed to pick up fares from South Goa. A few years ago south Goa taxi operators had similarly paralysed the state. Says a disgusted tour operator, "More incidents like this and they'll kill tourism in this state.
On Friday talks were held between the transport minister and representatives of the taxi and tour operators. Heated exchanges ensued with each side accusing the other of taking away their business. No agreement was reached.
