Two taxi union leaders arrested for allegedly attacking a film crew in Goa's Nerul village

Two leaders of a Goa-based taxi union have been arrested for allegedly attacking some film crew members at Nerul village near here, police said on Sunday. The duo, identified as Bappa Korgaonkar and Sunil Naik, was held for the attack that took place on Saturday, a senior official from Porvorim police station said. “The accused illegally entered a bungalow, where a film shoot was on, and attacked the crew members…The taxi union leaders were upset because the film unit had hired taxis from outside the state for ferrying the crew members,” he said. The tourist taxi operators in the coastal state have been on a strike since the last fortnight demanding that app-based taxi aggregator- Goa Miles- be scrapped. Meanwhile, Goa Lines Producers’ Association (GLPA) and Tours and Travel Association of Goa (TTAG), while condemning the attack on the film crew, on Sunday accused the traditional tourist taxi industry of trying to sabotage their business. GLPA member Shiva Baba Naik said that since August last year, film shoots were increasingly being diverted to Goa, from places like Mumbai and Chennai, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. But due to the ongoing taxi strike in Goa, things were getting difficult for the film crew members, he said. “We (film industry) are instrumental in giving jobs to various sectors. One film shoot means giving jobs to 25-30 sectors,” he said. “Just because you (traditional taxi operators) have stopped your business you can’t make others stop their businesses,” he said.