MARGAO – Foreign tourists catching the sun on the sands of Benaulim were witness to a novel and amusing form of protest on Monday, when tourist taxi
operators literally went begging for justice.
In a form of Gandhigiri, tourist taxi operators, holding placards denouncing the governmentโs indifferent attitude to their grievances and holding a coconut shell (kotti) in their hands to serve as a begging bowl, approached foreign tourists at the beach.
While gleefully accepting the โalmsโ generously dropped into the begging bowl by the holidaying tourists, the group distributed handbills listing their demands pending with the government and highlighting the โinjusticeโ meted out to them by tour operators.
The tourist taxi operators โbeggedโ of the tourists โto avoid fancy services and use local restaurants and shacksโ. โPlease use tourist taxi services which charge official government rates rather than the services of tour operators who charge exorbitant rates in dollars and pounds,โ the handbills distributed by the group said.
The taxi operators attempted to drive home their point that โtourism had destroyed the livelihood of the locals without creating alternative employment opportunitiesโ.