Mopa taxi drivers harassed minors of Delhi family: Plaint

Calangute: Following the alleged harassment of a Delhi family’s driver at the Mopa airport, the North Goa Rent-a-Cab Association has said that tourists who rent vehicles are being unlawfully prevented from picking up their family members at the airport.
The rent-a-cab operators, speaking on Saturday at Calangute, said a tourist from Delhi, Shayla Chopra, had rented a vehicle on April 8 and had brought her driver from Delhi.
On April 9, the driver was sent to pick up Chopra’s minor daughter and friends from the Mopa airport. However, the driver was allegedly prevented from picking up the children, the association said.
In a complaint to the Pernem police station, the driver, Rupesh Kumar, said, “A group of taxi drivers headed by Nikhil Mahale surrounded our car and made the girls who are 17 years old and minor get off and threatened me with physical harm if we refused to heed their demands.”
Kumar added, “After removing the luggage from the car, one of the taxi drivers wanted to take the unaccompanied minor girls along with them in their taxi. This scared the children and this act by the taxi drivers caused mental harassment to them and my employers.”
Further, the complaint said, “This has ruined the tourism culture in Goa and serious harm could have come to the three children and to me due to their actions.”
Demanding strict action against the taxi drivers involved in the incident, the rent-a-cab operators said anyone who rents a vehicle can drive it anywhere in Goa. “This is simply harassment of our customers. We, the owners of the vehicles, are not doing any pick-up or drops at Mopa or railway stations,” said Ramdas Palkar, the president of the North Goa Rent-a-Cab Association.
Palkar said, “We follow all the rules and regulations. Nowhere does it say that a customer cannot pick up his family members from the airport or the railway station. We cannot accept this.”