Forest dept. claims right to tax on sand

Dimapur, Sep. 28 (EMN): The state government-orchestrated-embarrassment refuses to die down even as the department of Forest and Climate Change on Thursday reiterated its stand to “to supervise the collection of revenue and regulation of forest transit passes”, in relation to the ongoing tussle between the department and the department of Geology and Mining over royalty imposition on sand. The office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Dimapur issued a statement saying the Geology and Mining department’s assertion that the statement issued the principal secretary to the government of Nagaland as ‘irrational’ was unfortunate. It stated that the department “shall continue to supervise the collection of revenue and regulation of forest transit passes as per the office memorandum.”