SHILLONG, Jan 5: The tourist taxi associations, opposing the proposed penal law pertaining to hit-and-run cases, have decided to end their 48-hour protest halfway on Saturday morning.
A communication was received from Guwahati to end the ‘stay off the road’ protest in 24 hours effective Saturday morning. “I received a call from the All Assam Motor Worker’s Joint Forum asking us to end the 48-hour protest and by tomorrow morning (5 am) everything will get back to normal,” said the Khasi Hills Tourist Taxi Association general secretary, Bhaskar Deb.
He said that according to their Assam counterpart, the decision to call off the strike was taken after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma called the members of the All Assam Motor Worker’s Joint Forum (AAMWJF) for talks with the Commissioner of Transport, Assam.
It was informed that after threadbare discussions, it was decided that AAMWJF will submit a memorandum immediately for due consideration of the government and the Commissioner of Transport, Assam, will take immediate steps for arranging a meeting with the highest level of administration with the representatives of AAMWJF if their strike is immediately called off.
On Friday, all tourist taxis in Meghalaya stayed off the roads in support of the protest against the increase in jail sentence to 10 years in hit-and-run cases in the yet-to-be implemented Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The protest was a part of the country-wide opposition by cab owners and drivers.
Meanwhile, talking about the protest and its impact on tourism, Tourism Minister Paul Lyngdoh said, “This is a matter of concern not just for Meghalaya but the entire nation, given the surge in reckless driving cases and instances where drivers have flouted the law”.
Stating that the free movement of the tourists is crucial nationwide and the state is not acting in isolation, Lyngdoh said that since the movement is happening across the country, the measures of the state must align with the entire country’s stance on this matter.
