Tourists arriving in Goa on Friday might be stranded at the airport or train stations, with nearly 3,000 tourist taxis going on strike on Friday, protesting harassment by police and transport department officials and mandatory fitting of speed governors to their vehicles.
The Goa Government, late on Thursday, invoked the Essential Services and Maintenance Act in a bid to deter the striking taxi drivers from going on strike.
"We have already declared the strike illegal. This Government has gone out of its way to support taxi drivers. But they are getting out of control. They have not even served notice to the Government about the strike. If any driver takes law in their hands, their permits will be cancelled," Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar told The Pioneer.
Strike has been called on Friday by tourist taxi associations in both the districts, North Goa and South Goa, in the State.
"For now we are going for a one day strike, but if we get no response from the Government and our demands to scrap speed governors and harassment by police and RTO officials does not stop, we could go for an indefinite strike. There will be no tourist taxis at major tourist points like airport, bus stations, train stations on Friday," North Goa Tourist Taxi Association president Vinayak Nanoskar told reporters here. Dhavalikar said that the Government was pressing into action more than 300 extra Government-operated buses, which will operate at public transit points.
In absence of efficient public commuting infrastructure, tourist taxis are an essential mode of transport both for tourists as well as locals and the strike is expected to cause hardship to commuters and tourists on Friday.