Team Herald
VASCO: Mormugao Deputy Collector/Sub Divisional Officer and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Bhagwant A Karmali has clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC apprehending law and order situation after temporarily closing the prepaid taxi counter operated by Taj India Tours at the Dabolim international airport.
The prohibitory order was issued on May 10 and will be in force till May 31. The order was issued after all efforts to resolve the conflicts between the Taj India Tours and the local taxi operators failed. The Taj India Tours was allotted a pre-paid taxi counter at Dabolim airport and recently its proprietor stopped engaging taxi operators from carrying business at the counter following confrontation.
The problem started when the Taj India Tours stopped issuing slips to the taxi operators for breaching the conditions of the agreement and not engaging their vehicles at the counter and causing loss to their business. Most taxi operators were running their business without collecting the slips from the counter by not paying the freight charges and by not settling the pending bills.
There had been heated arguments between the proprietor of Taj India Tours and committee members of Taj Taxi Association, the SDM stated adding possibility of confrontation between both the parties and restraining operation of Taj India counter operation at the Dabolim airport cannot be ruled out and which could result in law and order issue, especially during the G20 Summit.
Also all the efforts made to convince the Taj India Tours proprietor Ranbir Singh not to stop the activities of the local taxi operators from carrying business at the Taj India Tours counter failed.