SHILLONG: The Chairman of Achik Matgrik Kotok and former leader of the disbanded ANVC-B, Bernard N Marak, has accused a faction of the Garo Students Union of vandalizing his office.
In a statement, Marak said that on October 10, self-styled president of GSU CEC, Tengsak Momin, sent some members to his Babupara office. However, his ‘boys’ confronted the GSU members for trespassing into his office and collecting tax in the name of monthly donation.
He said they later broke into his Babupara office and vandalised it after office hours. The tax collected by these goons is disguised as donation. “They are not taking up student related issues and are instead active in the market imposing and collecting illegal taxes which is evident from the receipts they issue,” he said
He said it was the third time that his office had been vandalized.
Narrating the incident of October 10, he said that around 2 pm two boys came to his Babupara office on a bike (ML08 8633) and asked for Rs 50,000 from his staff.
One of the boys introduced himself as Chegam and showed a receipt to confirm they were from GSU (Tengsak faction). One Kobi of Tetengaja (Jerusalem) asked for the money. However, when confronted, they fled leaving their bike near his office.
Later that evening, Tengsak and his goons vandalized his office and subsequently even threatened the shopkeepers of Babupara.
He alleged that Chekam, Tereng, Chonbat are some of the boys who collect the monthly “tax” while adding that parents of some them are in the police department.
Alleging that Tengsak-led GSU is collecting a huge amount through “forcefully imposed tax” in the form of monthly donation from the traders which remains unchecked by district administration, he added that Tengsak is using the collected money for his personal interest and what concerns him is many young people are lured to join their group for the free drinks, huge taxes and protection.
“Tengsak is not an elected president of GSU and by his illegal exercises he is defaming the name of the student union,” he said.
He appealed to the government to act strictly against the illegal collection.
