TAXI-DRIVERS PROTEST GOVERNMENT DECISION
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[05:23 pm] 07 November, 2008
Some 100 taxi drivers staged a protest action near the Government
building at 10.00 today morning. They were stopped by policemen
and red-hats who promised to call and learn the answer to their
concern. But the drivers had got no answer till 1:00.
The police threatened the protesters to disperse the crowd by force but
regardless of their "painstaking" efforts the action didn’t break up.
The main reason for the protest was yesterday’s decision of the
Ministry of Transportation to place control on taxis without yellow
license plates. Private taxis were asked to stay indoors for at least
a month so that the Ministry could fix taxis with license plates.
The decision aroused burning indignation among private taxists. Almost
all of them have changed their cars and have to pay credits to banks.
Remind that under an April 1 decision of the Government private taxists
were to change their cars and pay all taxes. Today the Government
makes taxis pay another 25 000 drams for yellow registration numbers.
"We hardly make both ends meet and afford our bare necessities. What is
to become of us! How can we pay bank credits, pay for license plates,
taximeter, etc?" complained the drivers.