DIMAPUR, JANUARY 22 (MExN): The Public Action Committee (PAC) of the Naga Council Dimapur (NCD) has issued a ten day ultimatum to the Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC) to revoke the lease system of collecting toll and utility fee in Dimapur.
Failure to do so would compel it to take “drastic action,” the PAC cautioned.
The PAC, in a letter to the DMC Administrator stated that the lease system introduced by Municipal Affairs Department is one of the main factors that encourage illegal collection of money at the check gates inside the city.
“The past and recent administrative approval to collect the same is void of proper streamlining of goods and commodities under GST and without any accountability. There needs to be a transparent system with detailed charges to be levied which is not so,” the PAC pointed out.
It further observed that third parties are sub leased to collect the toll and fees, “which is an opportunity for anti-social elements to interfere and indulge in illegal collection of money under this guise.”
The PAC further questioned why the DMC office itself cannot take the responsibility of collection when it has a working employee strength of more than 300.
“The excuse that lessees collect higher revenue than the DMC staffs is not justifiable,” it said, and added that “to tie-up the salary of the over staffed employees through collection of toll and fees alone at the mercy of public is totally unacceptable.”
“The public cannot be held responsible to bear the toll and fees to meet the salary of DMC employees,” it added.
The PAC further claimed that doing away with the lease system had reduced the cost of commodities in the past when it conducted its ‘Operation Check Gate’ in 2019.
