NVCO enquires on efforts made to curb illegal activities

Dimapur, June 27 (EMN): As several trade bodies have demanded to check the alleged illegal activities of insurgents in the state, the Nagaland Voluntary Consumers’ Organisation (NVCO) has questioned the Nagaland Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) on how far the information given to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has been put into practice.

NVCO has made this query while reacting to the reply of the state chief secretary and the DGP to the NHRC, wherein they have purportedly stated that “all possible efforts have been made to curb the illegal activities of insurgents in the state.”

NVCO president Kezhokhoto Savi stated that the NHRC, acting on a petition filed by a noted human rights activist Radhakanta Tripathy, had passed an order directing the chief secretary of Nagaland to ensure basic human rights in the state especially the more than one hundred villages of the state. The petition alleged that all-weather road connectivity and non-availability of basic amenities like potable drinking water, primary healthcare and education facilities were not provided and villages, while social schemes introduced by the central and the state governments were not being implemented properly.

The petition further alleged that people of Nagaland have to pay taxes to the parallel government run by five insurgent groups- NSCN (I-M), GPRN/NSCN, NSCN (K) and the two factions of Naga National Council (NNC) – apart from paying the government taxes. The petition pointed out that Illegal multiple taxes and threats by insurgents mixed with the inaction of the government amount to the denial of the right to life.

According to Savi, Tripathy had also pointed out illegal and unabated taxation imposed on the people of Nagaland forcing them to pay multiple taxes to underground groups and continuation of extortion on commercial vehicles un-checked along highways and check-gates in Nagaland.

It was after NHRC’s intervention, the chief secretary and DGP Nagaland informed that all possible efforts have been made to curb the illegal activities of insurgents in the state, Savi stated.

To bolster his claim, Savi has referred to several trade bodies including Confederation of Nagaland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CNCCI), Dimapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), which have come out strongly with demand for all Naga political groups (NPGs) to immediately refrain from multiple taxation and also asked the state government to immediately check all such multiple taxation in the state.

Savi said CNCCI had flagged the issue of multiple taxations and demanded all the Naga political groups to immediately refrain from such activities and put humanity first. CNCCI also appealed to the public to raise the question of price rice with the state government and NPGs.

He also pointed out that DCCI had alleged transportation tax by various NPGs and other forms of taxation causing price escalation in most parts of Nagaland, while MCCI had alleged some gun toting persons of trying to pillage the market and loot innocent, hardworking, productive citizens-the business community.

While considering the hardships faced by several trade bodies, Savi has questioned the chief secretary and the DGP of Nagaland as to how far the information given to NHRC has been put into practice.

Savi has attributed price rise in the state to mushrooming of such illegal collections by all and sundry including police and government agencies. He claimed that on several occasions trucks refuse to enter Nagaland due to numerous illegal collections of tax counters where truck drivers were stopped and forced to pay money.

Savi stated that NVCO had submitted several representations to the state government to execute the Gauhati High Court order dated June 3, 2014 to stop all illegal cash collections at check gates and highways. He has reiterated to implement the order dated June 22, 2009 where the state government decided that no collection of taxes should be made by any organisation or individuals including government departments such as Police, Excise, Forest and Taxes department etc.

Further iterating that “social Justice is the need of the hour,” NVCO affirmed not to remain ‘silent spectator’ over the illegal and unauthorised taxation which contributes to price rise in the state markets.