Dimapur, Sep. 28 (EMN): The Nagaland Timber Traders’ Union (NTTU) on Fri. alleged that some timber unions and associations in some districts of levying tax on vehicles carrying logs and timbers while such vehicles are crossing the districts and strongly condemned such actions and said that the union will initiate stern action against any of its affiliated union and association is found indulging in such acts.
"The timber community has been fighting all these years against taxation imposed on us by various government agencies and other groups. This fight for justice is meaningless if we do not first clean our own kitchen," stated the NTTU president Kevise Sogotsu in a press release.
The union also stated that the state government and its departments and agencies manning the check gates are still collecting tax from timber laden trucks despite repeated reminders in the past that 'such collection are downright illegal and amounts to extortion'.
The union question the personnel manning the check gates why, even after getting salary from the government, they are so greedy as to extort tax from the timber traders and tree farmers who are trying to make a living from the sweat of their brows.
Saying that it is a question of survival, the NTTU president said that the timber traders and tree farmers are also Nagas engaged in their own private plantation or forest, and would be compelled to go to any extent 'to see that such illegal tax gates are removed.
Sogotsu said that, under the present scenario, the timber traders and local tree farmers are undergoing immense hardships and running losses and many of the timbers traders and tree farmers are in debt and finding hard to run their families.
Moreover, the NTTU also appealed to the various Naga political groups to listen to the genuine plight of the timber traders and tree farmers and exempt them from taxation for at least three years.
"NTTU will always cooperate and support any Naga political group which is ready to listen to our voice," the NTTU president stated.
