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Varanasi boatmen stage protest against water taxi service
The Varanasi municipal corporation has planned to start a water taxi service between Namo Ghat and Assi Ghat.
The Kashi boatsmen on Thursday stopped plying boats while staging a protest against the decision to ply water taxis in the river Ganga.
They however ended their protest after the assistant commissioner of police of Dashashwamedh Ghat Awadhesh Pandey spoke to them and asked them to end their protest for two days following which the boatsmen ended their sit-in. The boatmen later submitted a memorandum of their demand to the ACP.
Pramod Manjhi of Maa Ganga Nishadraj Seva Nyas said that none of the officials from the administration spoke to them before taking the decision to ply water taxis, though we tried to meet them. If water taxis will ply in the ghats it will affect the business. Therefore, water taxis should not be plied, he added.
The Varanasi municipal corporation has planned to start a water taxi service between Namo Ghat and Assi Ghat.
As per the information, out of 10 water taxis brought from Bhavnagar in Gujarat, two are being prepared for operation in the Ganga River. The municipal corporation has fixed four routes from Assi ghat to Namo ghat, Harishchandra ghat to Manikarnika ghat and Kashi Vishwanath Corridor to Assi ghat and Namo ghat. The regular operation of these water taxis will be done on these routes after the Sawan.
A water taxi will take as many as 86 devotees to the destination via the Ganga in one round. In all, two water taxis will complete 10 trips throughout the day.
