Manipur Deputy Chief Minister Leishangthem Chandrami Singh said that ‘unauthorised taxes’ were collected at Dimapur in Nagaland to enable movement of Manipur trucks carrying goods from other states.

Replying to a supplementary question in State Assembly, he said the ‘taxes’ had increased from Rs 500 to Rs 5000 per truck carrying construction materials, bitumen and other items. Mr. Singh, who also holds the works portfolio, was replying to Yumkham Erabot of the Congress.

Official sources said that Naga underground groups, particularly NSCN(I-M), did not allow movement of trucks without paying the taxes at Dimapur. Delay or non-clearance of underground-imposed ‘taxes’ on Manipur-bound vehicles at Dimapur and several other points along NH 39 (Imphal-Dimapur-Guwahati) had delayed implementation of several development works or caused inconveniences to people in Manipur.

Mr. Erabot said that during zero hour different underground groups have stepped up collection of ‘non-Manipuri taxes’ from those coming from other States. He said that some underground members allegedly locked up a government school in his Wangkhei Assembly constituency in the heart of Imphal town as some of the non-Manipuri students had not paid the underground taxes. Accusing the State government of failing to protect citizens, Mr. Erabot said that police who were informed of the locking of the school had also failed to apprehend the culprits. He further alleged that the Manipur State Congress Party-led government had failed in all respects and opined that under the present Government "Manipur has become a killing field". Official sources said some valley-based guerrilla organisations were also collecting Rs 100 per head per year from every non-Manipuri living in the State for the past few years.

It is learnt that the Manipur government was worried over the increasing cases of extortion by underground ultras from State officials and the people in general, most of which were not reported to the police.

The people as well as the officials seemed to be afraid of ‘underground reprisals’ if they reported the extortions to police or to any authorised security official but it was not possible to prevent it without getting any reports, the sources said. Therefore, the government has asked the officials and the people to report to nearby police stations if they received any letter demanding money from any underground group.

The sources confirmed that a majority of the government officials including those in lower ranks were paying money every month to different underground groups operating both in hills and the valley. The monthly payment of an employee is between Rs 30 and Rs 250 depending on the salary. Some government departments are paying between Rs 30,000 and 50,000 to different underground groups monthly. The amount varied according to the strength of the staff.