Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Oct. 13: Close on the heels of Hardware traders in Dimapur expressing unhappiness over the Dimapur Municipal Council’s (DMC) decision to revise the rate of entry tax collected per vehicle, the Naga Council Dimapur has thrown its weight behind the traders and termed the new rate as ‘exorbitant.’
The DMC had introduced the new tax system on Oct. 1, provoking furious backlash from those dealing in hardware commodities. On Saturday, the Naga Council Dimapur jumped to the defence of the hardware traders.
According to the convener of the Public Action Committee (PAC) of NCD, Vekhosayi Nyekha, the revised tax collection at entry gate was “so exorbitant.” He said: “The municipal council has the right to collect tax but they should not increase the rate to such a height (sic).”
“They (DMC) have increased the tax by sevenfold or by 700% all of a sudden,” Nyekha said. According to him, the increase would have been ‘reasonable’ if it were restricted to 5-10%.
Nyekha pointed out that “once the tax collection increases, automatically the people/public will be affected as business will indirectly collect from the customers. Consequently, it will affect the government in return.”
“We will talk with the DMC as well as with the state government, but for the time being such revision will not be accepted by the committee,” he said. To discuss the matter, the NCD has convened a meeting with ‘all public leaders’ on Oct. 22.
The NCD also issued a statement on Saturday protesting the introduction of DMC Toll and Urban Utility fees 2018-2019 since Oct. 1
According to the statement, the state’s department of Municipal Affairs must “immediately cancel the new order and maintain status quo on toll fees in the interest of the public.”
Further, the council stated; “With one nation, one tax GST in place in India, another tax under the guise of toll fee cannot be imposed per commodity by a particular state.”
