Almost 50 per cent fatal accidents on Goan roads involved tourists, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said Monday.
Sawant cited tourists opting for rent-a-bike services in absence of unavailability of affordable taxi services as a cause behind accidents."Hiring a taxi in Goa is an expensive proposition due to which tourists opt for rent-a-bike service. They are not well-versed with roads in the state and meet with accidents many a times. Almost 50 per cent of the fatal accidents in the state involved tourists, who would have saved their lives if an affordable taxi service was available," Sawant reasoned.
The chief minister was talking to reporters after chairing a meeting between operators of tourist taxis, taxi aggregator services and MLAs.
Tourist taxi operators are opposing promoters of 'Goa Miles', an app-based taxi service supported by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation.
"Goa Miles was started to provide affordable taxi service to the people. It is in the interest of Goan tourists and tourism," the CM said.
While Sawant attempted to broker peace between tourist taxi operators and Goa Miles, the attempts seem to have come unstuck.
"We want 'Goa Miles' to be scrapped permanently. The meeting which was called today by CM was mere an eyewash. The government should listen to our demands before we take to streets," said Chetan Kamat, president, All Goa Taxi Owners Association.
According to Sawant, several tourist taxi operators in Goa also own a fleet of vehicles under Rent-a-Cab scheme and also have their bikes on rent.
"There are some people who own as many as 50 cabs. Some people are taking undue benefit of the scheme which was introduced to provide employment to youths. There are 18,000 bikes on rent which are owned by just 3000 owners," the CM said.