the goan I network
PANAJI
The Director of Transport, Nikhil Desai, has said that tourist taxis will have integrated digital meters, with GPS, printer and panic button, all together. This is the first time in India that a state’s taxis will have meters like these. Desai was the guest at an interaction jointly organised by Goan Varta and The Goan Everyday.
He also said that the work is on to build an app for tourist taxis. Both these initiatives - digital meters and app – are going to be rolled out soon.
Desai explained, “Taxi operators will not have to pay anything to use the app. People who want to take a cab will have to pay a nominal charge for using the app.”
In his exclusive conversation with Goan Varta and The Goan Everyday, Desai outlined a number of steps aimed at revolutionising the transport sector in the state.
He said, “At the moment, the transport department is paper driven. We are testing point-of-sales (POS) machines, which will be given to officials in RTOs (regional transport offices) so that people can make cashless payments. The current practice of people making huge cash payments ofRs 1.5-2 lakhs will stop once we implement this measure.”
Desai also shared a number of out-of-the-box ideas, which have the potential to transform the transport sector in the state.
He said, “When people are caught violating traffic rules, they don’t like it at all. We are soon going to introduce body cameras for the traffic police. This camera will record the behaviour of the person violating the rules. If he abuses, the camera will record it. We will have evidence of misbehaviour and we will book him for not only violating traffic rules but also for coming in the way of a government official doing his duty.”
