SHILLONG, Oct 9: Many of the tourist taxi drivers operating on the Guwahati-Shillong Road are reportedly facing harassment by self-styled agents operating in different areas of Shillong, who demand money claiming to have helped the drivers in securing passengers.
This is being reporter from areas like Jhalupara, Shillong Civil Hospital and even Police Bazar.
In Jhalupara recently, a passenger boarded a cab to Guwahati on his own, but moments later a self-styled agent arrived on the scene and demanded Rs 100 per passenger from the driver.
According to the drivers, this is a common trend in the aforementioned three areas of Shillong, which results in them shelling out a substantial chunk of money to pay to the agents.
“If we don’t give the money, they start fighting with us,” one of the drivers said, while adding that they are forced to pay Rs 50-100 per passenger if they are picked up from the three locations mentioned before.
The aggrieved drivers say these agents are just boys eyeing to ‘loot’ money from the cab drivers. “In two trips on a day, we earn around Rs 3,000-4,000, out of which we have to give almost half of our earnings to our owner followed by the cost of petrol, toll gate fee and now this additional amount which we are forced to shell out from our pocket,” another the driver said while calling for an end to this trend.
Interestingly, a similar problem exists in Guwahati where agents charge at the taxi stand there.
