Office of the divisional forest officer (DFO) Dimapur Saturday asserted that the collection of forest royalty for sand was as per government notification dated April 17, 2018.
In a press release, DFO Dimapur stated that the said notification was issued with the approval of chief minister Nagaland.
On the contrary, the G&M department has been maintaining that the forest department continued to collect royalty on minor minerals despite government authorising the G&M department to implement NMMCR 2004. On Friday, the Sand Stockists and Suppliers’ Union (SSSUD) on Friday threatened to impose indefinite bandh on transport of sand to Nagaland if the government of Nagaland failed to respond to its clarification on royalty issue.