Tourist taxis hit hard by lockdown

Sumayyah Qureshi

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 14

The gate to the tourist taxi stand No. 20 on the Boulevard Road, which runs along the Dal Lake, is locked but the taxis are stationed inside on the tarmac.

A few taxi operators, who were at the taxi stand, said they had been without work for the past more than two months when the state was stripped of its special status and divided into two union territories. They said they came to the taxi stand in the morning and went back around 3 pm. “We only come here because our taxis are stationed here and also to clean them occasionally. That is all we do,” said a taxi owner.

They said their work season ended the day the tourists were asked by the government to leave Kashmir on August 2. “We are without work since August 5 as there are no tourists,” said Manzoor Ahmed, a member of the taxi drivers’ union.

As many as 194 taxis are registered with the taxi stand. As per the taxi drivers, there are around 1,100 taxis in the Valley, which are associated with the tourism sector. They are one of the main tourism stakeholders and have been hit hard by the clampdown.

“Each taxi owner is suffering losses of around Rs 1.5 lakh each month,” said Jan Mohammad, another taxi owner. “How will we repay the car loans? How will we pay the school fees of our children? We don’t want our children to end up like us,” he said.