I, Kakiho Achumi, Head GB of Kakiho village under Dhansiripar Sub-Division would like to give a clarification made by the District Horticulture Officer, Dimapur which appeared in local dailies on July 14, 2009.
In his statement he has claimed that last year (2008), he had issued 600 nos. of banana saplings but I collected only 250. But the fact remains that he had issued only 250 nos to me through one Temsu, an Inspector in the office of DHO and the same were received from one private agent “Biotech Company” at 2 ½ Mile Dimapur. The remaining 350 nos saplings were never issued to me for reasons best known to him and later that he will give Rs. 1500 as compensation to buy the remaining 350 saplings from the market till today we do not know into whose pocket the money went.
This year, the DHO along with his staff visited Kakiho village in the month of January and encouraged the villagers to clear 3 (three) hectares of land for banana plantation assuring the villagers that he will issue banana saplings for 3 hectares. The villagers cleared the land as per his direction but nothing was heard from him thereafter.
Again in May, this year, he visited the village and assured the villagers to provide the saplings. The department had selected Kakiho village as one of the beneficiaries of banana sapling for this year. The village name is on serial No. 10 of the selected list in the DHO Dimapur office.
On June 15 2009, when the villagers led by me went to the office of DHO Dimapur to collect the sapling for 3 hectares (1220 nos of sapling) he issued 600 nos. of saplings. In a small piece of paper, he instructed his Store Keeper, Tsiesele to issue only 600 nos. of saplings. And to the dismay of the villagers, only 160 nos. out of 600 saplings were found fit for plantation and the rest was damaged. When the villagers approached him he told the villages in Nagamese “loile lobi nolobo koile nolobi”.
The villagers requests the concerned department to kindly intervene and look into the matter itself and help the villagers to recover the time, energy and money that the villagers have spent to ready 3 hectares of land for banana plantation.
Kakiho Achumi
Head GB Cum Chairman
Kakiho Village
