Khasi Meghalaya taxi operators and Assam cabbies at loggerheads

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The All Khasi Meghalaya Tourist Taxi Association (AKMTTA) and the Assam Tourist Cab Operators' Union (ATCOU) have been in loggerheads with the cab association of Meghalaya, raising a demand that directly clashes with the interests of the Assam cabbies.

In its memorandum to the Meghalaya Tourism Minister, the AKMTTA raised the demand that the cabbies from Assam carrying tourists to Meghalaya should not be allowed to go to the tourist posts in Meghalaya. They made it a point that the Assam cabbies should drop the tourists at Shillong town, from where the cabbies of Meghalaya will take the tourists to their visiting spots.

The Assam cab operators opposed the stand taken by the Khasi Taxi Association. "We have valid permits for going to Meghalaya with our cabs. In such a situation, the Meghalaya government cannot deter us from going to the tourist spots in Meghalaya. If the Meghalaya government succumbs to the demand of the Khasi tourist taxi association, we will have no option but to debar the tourist cabs from Meghalaya beyond Khanapara," said Assam Tourist Cab Operators' Union general secretary Ismail Ali.

The Assam cabbies take tourists to Meghalaya in packages for two or three days. Most of the tourists hire cabbies from the LGBI Airport and Guwahati for their Meghalaya tour. In such a situation, the cab drivers cannot drop the tourists off at Shillong and make them hire taxis from Shillong again. This, if put into practice, will make the tourists suffer, leading to a decline in the footfall of tourists both in Assam and Meghalaya.

Most of the families in Assam feel comfortable hiring cabbies from Assam for their daylong visit to Meghalaya. Such visitors will also feel ill at ease if they are made to hire cabbies afresh in Shillong.

Also Read: Assam: ASTC cab drivers face financial problems (sentinelassam.com)

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