SHILLONG, Sept 26: The state government has announced the setting up of a committee to look into various issues impacting tourist taxis in the state.
Informing this here on Wednesday, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said, “I have directed the Director of Tourism to form a small committee to come up with a full comprehensive analysis of the entire sector, how the taxis are being impacted, what are the suggestions and solutions that we have in front of us, how many taxis are there and how many tourists are coming in.”
The committee will have members drawn from tourism, law, police, district administration and other departments besides stakeholders.
“Once we are able to assess the situation in a detailed manner a fair chance can be given to all the stakeholders to express their concerns about this issue,” Sangma said.
“More importantly, the taxi associations and drivers should be brought on board to discuss in detail the issues, proposals and options in front of us, steps to be taken, reactions to those steps that we may take, and whether we are ready for those reactions. Also, the number of registered taxi drivers, how many people will be impacted – all those aspects need to be looked into before we can really come to a conclusive decision,” he said.
“I am hopeful that the director’s committee will very shortly meet everybody and quickly submit a report to us. I will definitely be calling the different stakeholders for discussion and will find how we will be able to move forward in this entire direction,” the CM added.
