Mkg business establishments to hoist black flags
Dimapur, June 17 (MExN): A bandh will be in force on June 18 (Tuesday) in Dimapur and Kohima from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, to be enforced by the Action Committee Against Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) under the aegis of the Naga Council Dimapur, and the Kohima Town Traders Union (KTTU) respectively. All business establishments and shops, including medicine shops/chemists/druggists are expected to keep their shutters down to protest against “unabated taxation” in Nagaland.
This is the first stage of agitation as planned by the ACAUT. Schools and other educational institutions in Dimapur will also remain closed to show solidarity. The KTTU bandh will cover only the business establishment within Kohima Town and has requested all its members and other traders to cooperate in the symbolic bandh.
There is no ban on vehicular movement. The ban does not apply to other districts of the State, though all business establishments in Mokokchung will show solidarity to the cause by flying a black flag on their premises, as directed by the Mokokchung Chamber of Commerce. The nature of the bandh is symbolic and is meant to protest illegal taxation that burdens the people of Nagaland, as also the operation of syndicates or dealers within the market.
According to a press note, the ACAUT plans to further pursue the issue of taxation on a wider scale by forming a fact finding committee to study and compare price of commodities in Nagaland and Assam, meet the Chief Minister and the Governor and submit a representation to the judiciary of Dimapur. The ACAUT has also claimed that this bandh is just a “pointer of things to come unless concerned organisations and authorities accede to our demands or put mechanisms in place to curb unabated taxation and ultimately price rise, namely, dealership and multiple taxations by UGs and price rise which is the prerogative of government to check.”
The Naga Council’s councilors, while expressing solidarity with the endeavor of the ACAUT on “streamlining taxation in Dimapur”, has stated that various collections by both registered and unregistered unions on cement, bricks, and essential commodities should be curbed immediately. It has also stated that the matter of taxation should be tackled by the state government in the interest of the public.
