Mokokchung based social activist, Bendang Imsong, has urged the concerned departments, civil societies, student bodies and NGOs to unitedly address the issue of Inner Line Permit (ILP) in every district of Nagaland before it escalates.

Concerned by the inaccuracies and unsatisfactory information received in the replies to his RTI queries, Imsong advocated that “Nagaland remains true to its values and does not succumb to negligence and mismanagement.”

According to a press release from the social activist, he submitted two RTI requests in May and August 2023 seeking information on the total number of ILP holders in Mokokchung District and the total amount of revenue generated through the issue of the permits in the fiscal year 2022 – 23. “As per the reply of the PIO and the documents provided, there were approximately 2000 ILP holders in Mokokchung during that period and the total revenue generated was ₹2,45,525/. However, upon closer examination of the documents provided, it was discovered that the details of only 1,588 ILP holders were provided and the challan details for the amount of ₹39,743/- was missing,” he stated.

Imsong informed that he then put a third RTI on 26th October 2023, to the PIO, Deputy Commissioner, Mokokchung, “seeking information for the missing Challan amounting to ₹39,743 and received a reply on 16th November 2023, where the office provided me with information of more challan amounting to ₹2,55,676/-, which was much more than the amount for which I was seeking the information for.”

This clearly shows that there is a significant discrepancy in the financial information provided, the social activist stated while pointing out that according to the ILP records, ₹4,61,458/- was generated in the fiscal year 2022-23, but the first RTI response indicated only ₹2,45,525/-.