GUWAHATI:
The Nagaland government has received complaints about the collection of illegal taxes, some collected by the civic bodies, two weeks after it ordered the removal of all police check gates barring those on the inter-state boundaries.
Nagaland shares its boundary with Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur.
The check gates within the State were closed down to “curb illegal collection of money from the vehicles on roads”. Accordingly, 21 of the State’s 34 police check gates were removed.
The State’s Chief Secretary, J. Alam, said a round-the-clock control room with two dedicated mobile phone numbers was set up at the police headquarters in State capital Kohima for people to lodge complaints. An email ID was also provided.
“There have been some positive changes after the removal of the check gates. We hope this will help control the market prices, especially in the far-flung areas,” he said.
Nagaland’s Director-General of Police T. John Longkumer said some “actionable cases” based on the complaints included collection of taxes by the Kohima Municipal Council from wholesalers. Similarly, the Zunheboto Town Council in Zunheboto district was collecting entry taxes.
“The local administration and police asked them to discontinue such collection,” he told journalists.
Nagaland has been notorious for “illegal taxation” directly or indirectly by extremist organisations led by the National Socialist Council of Nagalim or NSCN (I-M). The organisations have been justifying levying such taxes as they claim to run governments.
Public protest intensifies
Public protests against abduction and extortion by NSCN factions, specifically the Khaplang-Yung Aung or NSCN (K-YA) faction that carries out raids from across Myanmar, have intensified in Tirap, Changlang and Longding districts of Arunachal Pradesh.
The Wancho Council, representing the Wancho community has blamed the State government for failing to maintain law-and-order situation in these districts. “At least 11 people have been kidnapped for ransom in about a year and people are fed up with the worsening situation,” Sompha Wangsa, the council’s chairman said.
The police in Longding district bordering Nagaland and Myanmar said constant splits in the rebel groups and defections from one group to the other have led to a rise in cases of kidnapping. “Defectors usually take their guns and other equipment along and the affected group tries to extort money to recover the cost of weapons or buy new ones,” a police official in Longding district said.
