Friday
26th Apr 2024
Dhivehi Edition
MP Hussain Mohammed Latheef. Photo: Majilis
Member of Parliament for Faresmaathoda Constitutency Hussain Mohamed Latheef (Sembe) submitted an emergency motion to the parliament regarding the narrow space of time allocated for taxi drivers, and the speaker of the Majlis and former president Mohamed Nasheed has rejected the motion disallowing MP Hussain to submit the motion to the chamber.
Speaker of Parliament stated that his reasoning behind the rejection was that it was not an issue that required attending to immediately. It is noted that that emergency motion brought forth by Member of Parliament for Hoarafushi Constituency Ahmed Saleem brought forth a similar issue regarding cafés, restaurants and their service hours which was submitted to the floor and debated.
MP Hussain stated in the motion, that under the economic, business and worker rights bestowed by Article 32 and Article 37 of the Constitution should be equally available to all citizens fairly.
The MP further stated that HPA regulations have been eased on the 21st of March for cafés and restaurants allowing them to remain open till 10:30 PM in the night while taxi drivers have not been allowed the same relaxation.
Despite taxi service being a common method of income generation there can now only be a limited amount of taxis on the road past 6 PM. This puts a significant dent in taxi drivers’ only source of income and affects their families as well.
In his motion MP Hussain said that it is not reasonable to not extend taxi service timing while cafés and restaurants are allowed to stay open and running until 10.30 in the night.