The All Khasi Meghalaya Tourist Taxi Association (AKMTTA) has rejected the invitation to a meeting planned for tomorrow that was called for by a government-constituted committee over a disagreement as to which parties should attend.
AKMTTA has been spearheading a call to restrict the operation of tourist taxis from outside the state within Meghalaya; it wants Assam-registered taxis to drop their passengers off in central locations like Shillong where their passengers would then switch to local tourist taxis. This is being opposed by other groups, such as the Meghalaya Rural Tourism Forum (MRTF), which has warned that the state’s tourism industry would take a substantial hit from such a move.
In a letter to the Tourism Director, AKMTTA maintained that it first raised the issue of local tourist taxis and that the inclusion of other stakeholders is unwarranted.