Tourist taxi drivers in the state have accused the government of being laid back not wanting to develop infrastructure but to depend on Assam.
On the concluding day of the week-long “black flag” protest demanding restrictions on Assam cab from ferrying passengers to tourist spots in the state, the All Khasi Meghalaya Tourist Taxi Association (AKMTTA), condemned the recent statement of Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh.
Lyngdoh had recently stated that Assam remains an important source of tourism for Meghalaya, particularly because of the state’s reliance on Guwahati airport, railway station, and other facilities.
AKMTTA president Ricaldinus Dohling said that if the public understood what the minister had claimed, it means that the Meghalaya government does not want development or to have infrastructures like hospitals or educational institutions.
“It seems through this statement that the Meghalaya government does not want to develop the State and wants to harass the public who have to spend their money outside,” Dohling said, even as he added that those going for treatment to Guwahati has to spend around Rs. 5000 to 6000 for hiring a vehicle for a day.
The AKMTTA president said that through this statement the government does not want development but wants to be dependent on Assam for everything.
He also clarified Lyngdoh’s statement that there are complexities within the local taxi ecosystem, noting that around 60 per cent of drivers in the state do not belong to any association, while the remaining 40 per cent are split into several groups.
Dohling also said that even if the tourist vehicles are split into various associations, they all stand firmly behind the demand to ban Assam vehicles to ferry passengers to tourist spots.
“We are united and we daily contact the leaders of the various associations in the districts and even those in Shillong and East Khasi Hills district,” he said.
Dohling said that the association had sent various representations, to address their grievances, to the state government for the past one year but no action was taken.
He also added that if the government has the will it should have invited the association for talks even as he added that they have the support of their associates from Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
He said that if the state has the will it can restrict the entry of Assam vehicles like what’s being done in Sikkim.
