The Hindu : Kerala News : Taxi operators plan march to RTA

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 10, 2006

Kerala

Kerala

Taxi operators plan march to RTA

Staff Reporter

KOCHI: Taxi service providers in the district under the aegis of All Kerala Taxi Operators' Association have planned to march to the office of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) in Kakkanadu and picket the office on August 14 to protest against the delay in issuing of tourist taxi permits.

Secretary to the Association Raju P. Nair said the march was to highlight the delay in getting tourist permit for taxi operators and to press the authorities to speed up the process.

He said the delay in issuing tourist permits had hampered tourist taxi business that was already reeling under several other problems, the latest being the lopsided implementation of the service tax rules.

He said the association represented about 75 per cent of the taxi service providers in the State. Roughly 5,000 taxis operate in Ernakulam district and provide a means of livelihood to thousands.

The latest problem straddling the taxi service industry is that registered taxi service providers form just about 20 per cent of the actual operations. About 80 per cent fall out of the service tax net.

Mr. Nair said that repeated appeals to the authorities to widen the tax net had not helped. According to the registered taxi service providers, this had led to a situation in which unregistered operators enjoyed a price advantage over their registered counterparts.

While the registered service providers were liable to collect from their customers and pay nearly five per cent as service tax, the unregistered taxi providers are not obliged to do so, said Mr. Nair.

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