Panaji, Apr 14 (IANS): By prolonging their agitation, Goas taxi drivers are killing the goose of tourism which lays golden eggs, state Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho said on Wednesday, as the strike called by thousands of private taxi operators entered the sixth day.

Godinho also urged the taxi operators to shun the habit of overcharging tourists, saying such blatant excesses would impact Goa's tourism-based economy.

Taxi operators in Goa have gone on strike, demanding an immediate end to GoaMiles, a cab aggregator service backed by the state tourism development corporation, claiming that it is impacting the livelihoods of nearly 30,000 private tourist taxi operators in the state.

"Taxi operators in Goa have been agitating for the last six days. When their issues are being resolved, there is no need to agitate... The economy runs because of tourism and they are trying to upset this apple cart," Godinho told reporters, urging the taxi drivers to end their strike.

The minister said that the unhealthy trend in taxi trade, where drivers only opt for one fare a day and overcharge the customers, especially the tourists, is condemnable.

"How can you have an argument that you can make only one trip a day and recover everything in that trip? What kind of an argument is this? They will kill the goose which lays a golden egg," Godinho said.