Kohima: In a daring step, the womenfolk of Showuba village under Dimapur district have taken the fight against taxation to a new level by courageously volunteering to drive out all the underground cadres.
According to sources on Sunday. for the past one week, the women of the village have been keeping a vigil against illegal tax collectors, chasing away them from the village. Armed only with wooden sticks and a no-nonsense-approach, groups of women from their respective ‘khels’ (clans) took turns keeping watch round the clock.
The village women group christened as All-Woman ‘Action Committee’s,’ endeavour to get rid of the menace resulted into a check on illegal taxation.
Sources said the Showuba is strategically located right by the road leading to Niuland from Dimapur, with hundreds of vehicles passing through the village daily.
The volume of traffic and its rather remote location, far from the eyes and ears of the police, the gateway to the village, has over the years become a favoured hunting ground for ‘tax collectors’.
Meanwhile, the Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT), Nagaland has lauded the women of Showuba village for rising up against illegal taxation.
The ACAUT in a statement said the women of the village chased out cadres of the GPRN/NSCN and the NSCN (IM) after repeated calls to stop unauthorised taxation on the road passing through the village went unheeded. ‘The most galling aspect of taxation at Showuba village is the fact that both NSCN (IM) and NSCN-U cadres were collecting tax in all apparent camaraderie whereas the top leadership of these factions has spurned every reconciliation effort of Forum for Naga Reconciliation,’ ACAUT noted.
Stating that unauthorised taxation was an issue which every individual should be committed to fight against, the ACAUT Nagaland felt ‘gratified that Nagas have woken up to this menace.’ It further asked the police and the district administration to back the women of Showuba ‘since the latter has done what Dimapur police should have done long ago.’
Villages neighbouring Showuba were also called upon to not allow ‘the chased out cadres’ to operate in their respective jurisdictions. (UNI)
