Restrict issuing labour licence to non-tribal cabbies, KHADC told

SHILLONG, April 2: The Synjuk Ki Nongniah Taxi Sor bad Khapsor, an umbrella organisation representing urban and suburban taxi drivers, has urged the KHADC to restrict the issuance of labour licence certificates to non-tribal drivers.
The association met the Executive Member in charge of the Labour department, Winston Tony Lyngdoh, to discuss their concerns on Wednesday.
In a memorandum submitted to Lyngdoh, the Synjuk working president S Rynjah highlighted the issue of non-tribal drivers operating without the mandatory labour licences issued by the Council. He asserted that these unauthorised operations have adversely affected the earnings of local tribal taxi drivers.
Rynjah further noted that last year, the association, in collaboration with KHADC officials, conducted checks on non-tribal drivers operating local taxis in Rynjah, Laitumkhrah, and Nongmensong. They were surprised to find that, despite being penalised for lacking the required labour licences, many non-tribal drivers continued to operate.
He also stated that the issue had been raised with the previous Executive Member in charge of the Labour department. However, he claimed that the former EM was unaware that non-tribal drivers were still operating illegally.
Rynjah urged the current EM to take strict action against such violations and called for stronger regulations to prevent the issuance of labour licence clearance certificates to non-Khasi local taxi drivers.