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Tribune News Service
Dharamsala, March 29
As the tourist rush starts to pick up in Dharamsala, complaints of taxi operator fleecing tourists have started pouring in.
Mukesh, a tourist from Delhi, took taxi from Gaggal airport to Dharamsala for a distance of just about 15 km. To his surprise he was charged Rs 1,200 for such a short journey.
The case illustrates how the taxi operators here were fleecing tourists. The taxi operators were charging exorbitant rates thus violating the Transport Department guidelines.
As per the Transport Department notification, eight seater normal non-AC taxi can charge Rs 8.74/km from costumer. The rate of eight seater AC taxi are Rs 14 per km, Maxi cabs Rs 10.43/km and Maxi cabs having up to 14 seats can charge Rs 14.13/km. As per these rates, any passenger travelling from Gaggal airport to Dharamsala should pay just about Rs 250. However, most of the taxis are charging anything between Rs 1,200 and 1,400.
For a trip in a vicinity of about 10 to 20 km from Dharamsala, the taxi operators are charging around Rs 2,500. For shorter distance from Mcleodganj to Dharamkot and Mcloedganj to Bhagsu, the taxi operators charge a minimum of Rs 100 against the prescribed government rate of Rs 30.
Officials of the Transport Department on the condition of anonymity said they can take action against the taxi driver only, if a customer files a complaint against the taxi driver. We have issued directions that each taxi operator should keep list of approved rates and a complaint book in his vehicle. The tourists can seek the rate list from the taxi driver and ask him to charge the approved rates, the RTO said.
When asked as to why the taxi operators were not forced to install metres in their vehicles, the RTO said the decision had to be taken by the government.
As per the Department of Transport rules there was no capping on number of taxis that can operate in a certain area in the state. Any person can register his vehicle as taxi after paying the nominal fee to the state government. Over 5,000 taxis are registered just with the RTO office in Kangra district. Besides, over 3,000 taxis are also registered with the respective SDM offices.
Presence of a large number of taxis hit the viability of the operators. It also creates chaos at the tourist places. The taxi operators have clogged the parking places in Dharamsala and McLeodganj. They have also formed a strong union that stops the local police from taking action against erring taxi operators, who are overcharging from tourists.
The Department of Transport should notify the rates of taxis at the main tourist places in the state. The overcharging by taxi operators was creating bad name for Dharamsala from the tourist point of view and it would desist good tourists from coming to the area, he said.
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