Kohima, May 23 (EMN): Reacting to the news items which appeared recently in some sections of the local media regarding impasse between the taxi unions of Southern Angami, Mao and Senapati, the latter two have informed that they have resolved to clarify the matter to the public by bringing out “the factual truth”.
In a release today, the Mao Tata Sumo Welfare Union (MTSWU) president Kosührü Kenneth and Senapati District Taxi Welfare Union (SDTWU) president Paode Daonamai stated that they held an emergency meeting at Mao Town Hall to deliberate upon claims put forward by the Southern Angami ‘Tata Sumo’ Union (SATSU).
“The so-called July 2010 Agreement came about due to an unfortunate incident involving two individual taxi drivers from Nagaland and another from Manipur. Therefore, in order to prevent such incident in the future, an agreement called the 2010 Agreement, was reached between the then Southern Drivers Union and Mao Drivers Union,” the joint statement said. The two unions stated that the 2010 agreement does not contain any condition to suggest that Mao taxis will not ply from Kohima to Mao Gate. They are of the view that the Kohima-Mao Gate route is also an equally vital important for Mao taxis drivers and they have not deprived the Southern Angamis by imposing restrictions on their taxis to ply from Mao Gate.
Contrary to the claim made by SATSU that the Southern Angami taxis had stopped plying the route for few months, the MTSWU clarified that the service from Kohima to Mao Gate was disrupted since June 2015 till date. “However the SATSU did ply Kohima to Mao line in between on the basis of first come first similar to Mao-Dimapur line for a short period but later ceased to operate on their own,” the two unions stated.
On the meeting convened by SATSU on April 27 last, the Mao and Senapati units acknowledged that the presidents of both the units failed to attend the meeting on account of some unavoidable circumstances, but they sent their representatives to the meeting.
“Having failed to reach an agreement due to the absence of the units Presidents, the Mao and Senapati Units requested another meeting on 1 May 2017 at Bviingho (between Mao gate and Khuzama gate). But SATSU failed to attend the meeting. The Mao and Senapati Units thereby volunteered to go to SATSU to resolve the matter but SATSU walked out of the meeting failing to reach any agreement,” the unions stated.
“The MTSWU and SDTWU would like to state that Maos and Southern Angamis being blood brothers and would be neighbours for all times, it would be in the best interest of all the parties to come to a mutual understanding and the MTSWU and SDTWU would like to make a stand that whosoever have taxi permits should be allowed to ply their taxis hereafter,” the statement said.
SATSU clarifies
Meanwhile, the Southern Angami ‘Tata Sumo’ Union (SATSU) has clarified a sentence in a news report that appeared in this daily on May 21 which stated “…after duly informing the Southern Angami Public Organisation (SAPO), SAYO…”, that the present issue does not involve the SAPO and SAYO.
“The present issue is only between the Mao ‘Tata Sumo’ Union and Saouthern Angami ‘Tata Sumo’ Union,” SATSU president Nozosal stated in a release issued here today. He informed that the clarification is being made to the public in order to avoid misunderstandings.
