Two weeks into the transport strike, which has taken taxis and buses off the roads, one driver has been compelled to defy the action and try and earn a livelihood to put food on the family table.
Donaldstar Pakyntein, of Mawlai Syllaikriah, has not lightly defied the strike of the Meghalaya Joint Action Committee of Commercial Vehicles (MJACCV). However, he told Highland Post today that he has been forced to do so to meet the needs of his family.
“We cannot beg from anyone as long as we are fit to work and I urge all the other taxi drivers who are facing the same music like me to come out and earn their livelihood and not to participate in this issue that has become political because neither the members of the MJACCV nor (Deputy Chief Minister) Prestone Tynsong is providing us food to eat,” he said.
According to him, this face-off between the government and the commercial drivers has become a matter of life and death for the poor people who are dependent on local taxis, especially the elderly, pregnant and those in need of medical attention.
“A driver waits for passengers just like passengers wait for taxi drivers to drop them to their destination and if this is crippled then everything gets affected,” he said while strongly condemning miscreants who have reportedly punctured tyres of commercial vehicles parked in the city recently.
Pakyntein said that he is charging passengers according to the government’s rates, which is felt by the MJACCV to be too low to cope with the high price of petrol.
“If petrol is skyrocketing then the taxi fares should be revised and this should come from the government and if the rise in taxi fares is opposed by the public then the public should speak up against it and not the drivers because the drivers are not doing any charity to the public but earning their livelihood to provide for their families,” he said, adding that he is not earning a fortune but it is better than nothing.
Meanwhile, two siblings who reserved a private vehicle from Jowai to drop them in Shillong today informed that they were charged Rs 2,000 for the one way journey.
The siblings, who were waiting for vehicles at Khyndailad bus stand to go to a clinic in Barik, were fortunate enough to catch Pakyntein’s taxi to go to Barik.
“We have to come to Shillong in this situation because my brother needs immediate medical attention but we were charged so heavily just for the single trip and we don’t know how we will be returning to Jowai today,” 75-year-old P Lyngdoh Dolloi said.
Moreover, most of the street vendors at Khyndailad from localities like Nongmynsong and Mawlai said that they came on foot and will be going back on foot with very few sales, which is causing them great inconvenience.
“We don’t know what is happening but one thing is certain – the poor are the ones who always have to suffer,” one of the vendors said.
