The Cabinet has given its nod to a draft decision of HE the Minister of Interior that prohibits sharing of taxis and also requires cabbies to charge only what is shown on the meter.
The draft decision states that its provisions apply to taxis operated by transport company Mowasalat and its franchisees, the official Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported yesterday.
For long, commuters in Qatar have complained that taxi drivers often act in a high-handed manner, overcharge passengers and refuse to go by the meter. Sharing of taxis is also common at some places, particularly in the Industrial Area and Doha Bus Station.
Now, according to the QNA report, the approved draft decision stipulates that a taxi driver is prohibited from charging more than the “value recorded by the meter even if there is more than one passenger in a group”. It also states that drivers cannot allow sharing by more than one passenger or one group of passengers.
Further, the decision stipulates that the body of taxis should be turquoise in colour while the roof is to be gray, blue, maroon or yellow “depending on the circumstances”.
Individuals, meanwhile, are prohibited from painting their cars in the colours of taxis as defined above.
After the regular wee kly Cabinet meeting chaired by HE the Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani at the Emiri Diwan yesterday, HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid al-Mahmoud said the Cabinet also approved the validity of the provisions of Law No 24 of 2002 on the retirement and pensions of Qatari employees at Doha Institute for Graduate Studies.
Further, the meeting took the necessary measures to ratify a memorandum of understanding on the exchange of experience and co-operation in legal and judicial affairs between Qatar’s Ministry of Justice and Colombia’s Ministry of Justice and Law.
The Cabinet also reviewed the following topics and took the appropriate decisions: a letter by HE the Minister of Justice on a proposed amendment of laws regulating judicial or quasi-judicial committees; and two letters of Qatar’s Committee for the Alliance of Civilisations pertaining to the annual report on the implementation of Qatar’s plan for the Alliance of Civilisations. Established within the foreign ministry, Qatar’s Committee for Alliance of Civilisations oversees the development of Qatar’s action plan for the alliance of civilisations and follows up on its contributions in this regard.