Kohima: A high-level review meeting,
presided over by state Home Minister Imkong Imchen, on Monday
discussed the problem of rampant illegal tax collections from
vehicles on national and state highways.
At the outset, the home minister told the meeting
attended by senior officials from various departments that the
government had received many complaints from the victims about
forceful money collections at different check gates.
Terming such collection as "extortion", the minister
insisted that if this could not be eradicated completely at
least it should be brought down to a certain level.
Imkong pointed out that such illegal collections,
particularly at Dimapur and Kohima, led to exorbitant rise in
the prices of commodities for which consumers were suffering.
The meeting attended by chief secretary Lalthara and
home commissioner Jane Alam, suggested the revenue collecting
and enforcement departments to constitute vigilance cells to
conduct surprise checking in the gates.
The meeting also suggested that the number of check
gates inside the state should be reduced while making the
inter-state gate vehicles friendly. It also suggested that all
check gates erected by unauthorised unions and even by
municipal councils on high ways should be demolished.
Referring to Nagaland Municipal Act, the meeting
pointed out that no municipal councils could levy taxes
without permission from the government.
Urban development department officials informed the
meeting that the taxes imposed on various items and vehicles
by the municipal bodies were not authorised by the government.
The transport department officials said that a
five-member committee has been constituted to look into the
Centre's insistence on having uniform check gates on highways
where various departments can collect taxes under a single
roof at a designated place.
The meeting was attended by officials from police,
forest, transport, taxes departments and district
administrations of Dimapur and Kohima.
PTI
First Published: Monday, June 06, 2011, 20:30