The result: Former members of the banned organisation, who returned from jungles during Hiteshwar Saikia's regime, have formed powerful, organised syndicates all over Guwahati to extort `goonda tax' from truck drivers and transporters. Their monthly collection: an estimated Rs 6 crore.

The police know it but they are helpless. ``We are taking legal action. We have raided a few places. Though there is no negligence on our part, there is no way this can be stopped,'' says Guwahati SP P K Das.

The syndicates are either run by SULFA-backed contractors or by SULFA men themselves. There are two types of extortion: either they charge several times more than the tax at the legal counters that are contracted out by the Guwahati Municipal Council (GMC) or they run their illegal checkpoints.

Their areaof operation is defined: the 25-km stretch of National Highway 37 (from Khanapara in the east to the Saraighat bridge over the Brahmaputra in the west) which cuts through Guwahati and connects the capital to Meghalaya. Ordeal for the 1,500 trucks carrying essentials driving down NH 37 everyday begins the moment they enter Guwahati.

Though the entry and parking price has been fixed by the GMC -- Rs 50 and Rs 10 respectively -- collections are much higher. Apart from the four legal gates on the NH 37, several unlicenced gates have sprung up and all collect anywhere between Rs 300 to Rs 400 from each truck. The daily collection of these syndicates is over Rs 19.8 lakh.

Enter Guwahati from Shillong and the first stop for trucks is 9th mile. A shed which sprung up three or four months ago was visited by Guwahati police last week. Torn GMC receipts are scattered on the floor. SULFA boys collect Rs 100 from empty trucks and Rs 300 from loaded ones.

But following the raid, business is suspended during the day.The boys in Marutis now appear after 7 p m to set up office. Said a truck driver from Bihar, ``They collect money by dadagiri. They give us receipts for Rs 10 and take Rs 300. If we refuse they beat us up. Often policemen watch but never intervene''.

The next stop is the GMC's Khanapara check gate. This is legal and the contractor has paid Rs 2.33 crore to the GMC. Here all trucks slow down voluntarily to collect Rs 50 receipts. But in return for Rs 300. Six musclemen look on. Eye contact with the drivers is enough intimidation.

Further down is the GMC's Beltola parking point. One-year contract for the gate costs Rs 2.43 crore. Outside the collection window sits a police officer on a plastic chair. Parking charge is Rs 10 per hour. Whether trucks park or drive down, drivers are given a Rs 10 receipt for Rs 300. But even this is not fixed. For trucks with Punjab number plates, the rate is usually Rs 500. P Daka, on duty at the gate, says: ``We collect from 600 trucks every day. The rate is Rs 10 perhour.''

This is on record. Off the record, a truck driver from Shillong, A Mali, is asked for Rs 350. He was short of Rs 50. Boys at the gate snatch his licence and ask him to leave without a receipt.

At Beltola, about 1,500 trucks load and unload goods everyday. This area is being controlled by the Kamrup Transport Syndicate whose daily earning is Rs 4.5 lakh. Its initiation was dramatic. Two dozen young boys marched the stretch of Beltola, beating whoever passed them. And a week later transporters and truck drivers were told to pay Rs 300 for every truck.

Twenty-five page receipt books were issued against an advance of Rs 7,500 to the 600 transporters in Beltola. And now it is mandatory for all trucks leaving Beltola to carry a paid receipt. The trucks are checked either by the syndicate's mobile squad, or their representative or most commonly, the motor vehicle inspector who is on their payroll. The syndicate is told about the defaulters. And the punishment can sometimes be gory. The KamrupTransport Syndicate's success lured a few other SULFA boys to form the Beltola Truck Owners and Brokers Association. They charge Rs 30 per truck and make Rs 45,000 every day.

There are more. Near the Saraighat bridge, a dozen men stand on the road under a banner: Assam Motor Transport Workers Union. They are collecting money for an ``Aids awareness camp''. Trucks are waved down with a red flag and handed a receipt of Rs 50. The man in charge is unfazed: ``We have been told to collect money. Yes, this is a SULFA operation.''