IT HAS BEEN SECOND DAY SINCE INDIVIDUAL TAXI DRIVERS HAVE ORGANIZED ACTION OF PROTEST IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT BUILDING

Noyan Tapan
Jul 27, 2007

YEREVAN, JULY 27, NOYAN TAPAN. It has already been the second day since
a large group of taxi drivers have organized an action of protest in
front of the government building. Those, who are individual drivers
(not collaborators of taxi services), express their dissatisfaction
with the decision adopted by the RA government concerning the licence
of the taxi services. According to this decision, all the taxi cars
are to have yellow state registration numbers, counting devices, as
well as they are to pay an annual sum of 200 thousand drams (about 566
U.S. dollars). In addition to this, drivers are dissatisfied with the
fact that henceforth, the use of cars, which are older than ten years,
as a taxi will be prohibited.

Manuk Topuzian, the Minister-in-Chief of the personnel of the RA
Prime Minister, received the representatives of the drivers on July
26. The drivers proposed to transfer five thousand drams to a bank
account in order not to have anything to do with the collaborators
of the Tax Service. Manuk Topuzian ordered Hrant Beglarian, the RA
Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication, to make an in-depth
study of the government’s decision and to try to find any opportunity
to be able to meet the demands of the drivers.

The drivers are likely to receive an answer to their protest in a
few days.