Civil society organisations (CSOs) based out of the town have petitioned Urban & Municipal Affairs department to revoke the leasing of Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) tax collection to private parties without any further delay.
In a representation to the adviser for Urban & Municipal Affairs department “against the lease system for collection of tax by DMC”, Dimapur Urban Council Chairmen Federation (DUCCF) president Tsenthungo Nyamo, GB Union Dimapur Sadar president MY Ngullie, Naga Women Hoho Dimapur (NWHD) general secretary Elis Swu and Dimapur Naga Students’ Union (DNSU) president Sedevilie Angami reiterated their opposition to leasing out of DMC toll tax collection to private parties.
They recalled that a joint press release was issued by 10 organisations of Dimapur on June 10, 2017 against leasing out of DMC toll tax collection to any private party/middleman. An ultimatum by Public Action Committee (PAC) under the aegis of Naga Council Dimapur was also served to the department earlier to revoke the controversial leasing of tax collection by the council.
They said this was done after extensive survey by the Public Action Committee, which found that the lease system introduced by Urban & Municipal Affairs department was one of the main factors that encouraged illegal collection of money at check gates and inside the city. However, they lamented that the department has turned deaf ears to the cry of general public.
The representation noted that various reasons had been cited by the CSOs pertaining to the drawbacks of leasing toll tax collection to private parties. It pointed out that ACAUT Nagaland had also exposed the racket in lease contract by lessees since 2012. As such, the organisations said the leasing of tax collection has resulted in unauthorised hikes in prices of various commodities.
The organizations reminded the adviser that Dimapur had seen visible development and maintenance of roads, drainage, designated dustbins, culverts and overall improvement in sanitation when collection of toll tax was done by DMC itself.
But after temporarily suspending the collections by lessees for a few months, it was re-introduced again, they added.
The organisations said it found no justified reason for the Dimapur Municipal Council to follow lease system for collection of tax when it has more than 300 working employees under its establishment.
Taking this issue into account and seeing the lackadaisical attitude of the department, the organizations cautioned the adviser that if the department continues to show no sign of concern over the cries of general public in Dimapur, this would only lead to another unnecessary upheaval, for which the department would be held solely responsible.