Nagaland govt. receives complaints on illegal taxation

The State government had two weeks ago ordered the withdrawal of all police check gates barring those at interstate border points

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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.