PANAJI: The taxi operators' claim that there was unavailability of speed governors in the state, and which was endorsed by deputy speaker and Calangute MLA
Michael Lobo, has turned out to be a web of lies. A quick survey by TOI has found that there is no shortage of speed governors and a back of the envelope calculation shows that there are at least 300 gadgets available in the market currently. The dealers of speed governors also said if there is a demand, they could meet it at a day's notice.
"There is no question of non-availability or shortage of speed governors in Goa. In my shop alone, at any given day, I have 160 devices and we fit 50 of them a day on an average," said
Sidharth Joshi, proprietor of
Sidharth Automobiles at Sancoale.
Devices available, cabbies making excuses: Dealers, transport officials
After holding the state to ransom for three days, taxi operators withdrew the strike after CM Manohar Parrikar assured his government would not only approach the Supreme Court to exempt the taxis from fitting speed governors, but also provide them with fitness certificates to ply their vehicles.
Parrikar's assurance came after Lobo led a delegation of taxi operators claiming there was a shortage of speed governors in the market and hence, they would not be able to fit them before the February 24 deadline.
"Speed governors are not available in abundance in Goa. Those available are in varying prices and sans warranty," said Vinayak Nanoskar, general secretary, North Goa Tourist Taxi Association.
"Speed governors come with a one-year warranty. We can order in bulk if required, so where is the question of non-availability? I have a team comprising one technician and another person to assistin fitting them. The taxi operators are merely making excuses," Joshi said. Sidharth Automobiles is one of the seven or eight dealers authorised to install speed governors.
Director of transport Nikhil Desai agreed with the availability of different models of speed governors. "We have checked and most of the models are available. Whether they are in adequate quantity or not, I have asked my officers to verify," he said.
Transport officials involved in the inspection process also blamed taxi operators for giving excuses. "They have no will to install speed governors, which is why they wait till last minute before the fitness test to go looking for the device. If they can't find a speed governor of their choice at the last minute, they can ask the dealer to order it and the delivery is usually done within a day," an RTO official from Panaji said.
"We have given the taxi operators the liberty to pick whichever brand and dealer they want. There may be some dealers who may fit a speed governor for even Rs 3,000 but the performance is not assured. If they have already been approved by the testing agencies to be a safe product, we cannot say anything more," a transport official said.
There are seven testing agencies that approve the product for quality, based on which it has to be installed.
"All commercial vehicles as defined by the notification under M1 category have to fit speed governors. As per thelatest amendment, even taxis fall under the category. The earlier notification mandated that only eight-seater and above commercial vehicles had to install the speed governors but in the subsequent notification (by the SC committee on road safety on May 1, 2017), taxis have come under the purview of fitment of speed governors. That has brought taxis under the ambit of this law," a transport official said.
Irked that the RTOs won't grant their vehicles fitness cardswithoutthespeed governor, the taxi operators alleged harassment.
One of the fears taxi operators had was that exceeding their vehicle's speed beyond 80km would damage the engine. But mechanical engineers from authorised vehicle dealers in the city rubbished it. "The engine automatically slows down when it reaches the threshold of 80km/hour. Nodamage isdone," they said.
Representative Image
