Shillong, Aug 24: The All Khasi Meghalaya Tourist Taxi Drivers Association (AKMTTDA) will hold a sit-in demonstration from August 26 to protest against private vehicles being hired out for tourism purposes.
“From the beginning, we have said that private vehicles ferrying passengers have not only put us at a loss but the government too is losing revenue,” AKMTTDA executive committee member Balajied Jyrwa told reporters.
He addressed the press after an AKMTTDA delegation attended a meeting of the Meghalaya Truck Owners and Drivers Association (MCTODA). The tourist taxi association was seeking support from the truckers.
The AKMTTDA, for the past two years, has been demanding that the state government ban tourist vehicles from other states from entering tourist spots. In its plan, tourist taxis from, say, Assam, would drop off their passengers in places like Shillong and the visitors would then need to take Meghalaya-registered taxis to surrounding tourist spots. According to the AKMTTDA, Assam-based taxis have claimed a disproportionate share of the tourism trade and restricting their movements would benefit local drivers.
However, other tourism stakeholders fear that such a move would put tourists off from visiting Meghalaya in the first place. The Meghalaya government has not looked favourably on the AKMTTDA demand either.
Meanwhile, the AKMTTDA is also against the use of private vehicles being rented out to visiting tourists. Jyrwa said that the owners of such vehicles do not pay taxes to the government and the association has petitioned the government to cancel the permits of such private vehicles.
The state government earlier this month approved a plan to regulate private vehicle hire. This would mandate that owners register their vehicles with the Transport Department but this does not go far enough for the AKMTTDA.
