Blatant offences

Dimapur is fast becoming a city where illegality is not just tolerated but woven into the fabric of everyday life. In recent months, several colonies have echoed with unprovoked and reckless gunfire, prompting waves of condemnation from the press and civil bodies. Yet, as always, these condemnations fade into silence, leaving behind the same air of resentment and resignation. What continues unchecked, and perhaps more destructive in the long run, is another kind of criminality- the relentless and arbitrary “tax collections” imposed by multiple groups, unions, and even government agencies. The recent statement by the Dimapur Railway, Freight and Goods Owners’ Association (DRFGOA) has once again drawn attention to this grim reality. The Association lamented the unprecedented challenges posed by multiple taxations, noting how unloading operations have now been shifted to Guwahati, Bokajan, and Jorhat. The fallout is serious as Nagaland loses legitimate GST revenue while illegitimate authorities flourish, feeding on the state’s economic arteries. The irony could not be more tragic- those authorized to govern are powerless, while those without any mandate rule through intimidation and extortion.Dimapur continues to the field of activity to an astonishing number of at least 28 political groups and well over a hundred unions, associations, and organizations- all claiming some self-justified right to collect money. The methods of taxation have reached a level of absurdity where trucks are charged on the number of tyres, tax imposed on the number of crates and then packets and items taxed separately. All these scare business as the city has become a lion’s den for outsiders and a heavy yoke for its inhabitants. Many transporters have stopped entering Dimapur altogether, forcing local traders to travel to Lahorijan or Khatkhati to collect their goods, adding both cost and risk. A quiet exodus of business owners, weary of extortion and harassment, has already begun. The suspected non-transparent and opaque manner in which several government departments, including the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC), “collect revenue” at check gates only fuels the misgiving. This persists despite two state government notifications-issued in 2009 and 2012-explicitly banning such practices, and despite the Gauhati High Court’s landmark 2014 ruling reaffirming that any form of collection by civil bodies is illegal. Reflecting public resentment, ACAUT during 2012–2013 mobilized public against widespread illegal and unabated taxation, while the Public Action Committee (PAC) under the Naga Council Dimapur took direct action in 2019, removing several illegal check gates. In 2022, the state government again issued an order directing closure of all non-interstate gates, reportedly after intervention from the then Governor. Yet, as history has shown, the system remains alive protected by habit and complicity. This is not merely about a few illegal gates; it is about a deep-rooted culture of impunity. As long as “collection” remains normalized, offenses will continue to wear the mask of legitimacy. Market syndicates now fix prices and suffocate competition, inflating the cost of living and punishing the honest. Over the years, the rise of numerous parallel authorities- each invoking Article 371A to justify their self-created powers-has turned Dimapur from Nagaland’s commercial capital into what many now call the “extortion hub” in the land of festivals.