Complaints of taxi drivers fall on deaf ears

Though the tourist season has begun in the state,  the  taxi drivers say they are being neglected as none of their demands have been addressed so far.

Their demands include providing dormitory facilities to the drivers in hotels, increasing the overnight allowance and excluding tourist taxis from  hartal.

These demands were raised by the drivers on the opening day of the recently-concluded Kerala Travel Mart. But, they are yet to receive any positive response from the authorities. It is estimated that there are as many as 4,000 tourist taxi drivers  in the state.

The drivers feel that they are often neglected by all the stakeholders in the industry. “The hotels in major tourist destinations do not provide

basic facilities to the drivers. Though they provide bathroom facilities,  we are not provided restrooms forcing us to sleep in the vehicle. The night allowance is too meager that we can’t buy food with this amount,” said  R Anil, a tourist taxi driver in Kochi. The night allowance for the tourist taxi drivers is `200 a day but the  driver gets only `150 after commission.

“It is difficult to get room for `150 in major tourist destinations. So, it is inevitable that the daily night allowance be increased by atleast  `300. We are forced to drive during hartal days without any protection. It is high time that tourist vehicles be excluded from hartals. Various political parties have to take a decision in this regard,” said Benny Varghese, another tourist driver.

Paulose K Mathew, state chairman, Travel Agents’ Federation of India, said that majority of the hotels at the tourist destinations failed to provide facilities to the drivers. “Not providing proper accomodation increases the risk of accidents,” he added.