ITANAGAR, 23 Aug: The State Horticulture Research & Development Institute (SHRDI) has appealed to the land donors of Kurung Kumey and Dibang Valley districts to not panic and arrive at any decision to take back the plots of land they donated for establishing Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) in the two districts.
The land donors had on Monday announced that they would withdraw the consent given for the establishment of KVKs on their private properties.
The SHRDI had earlier given them assurance that the lower level posts in the KVKs would be given to qualified members of the land donors’ families in lieu of monetary compensation. However, the land donors alleged that the state government failed to keep the promises made at the time of donation of land.
The SHRDI in a release clarified that “the KVKs in the two districts are under SHRDI, department of horticulture, not under the department of agriculture, and therefore the recruitment interviews being conducted by the agriculture department for these two particular districts are not tenable or in accordance with the norms of the ICAR, wherein the host organisation, ie, the SHRDI, has to conduct the exam.”
The SHRDI will conduct the exam at an appropriate time, it said, adding that recruitment for officer level posts will be conducted through the APPSC, “or with due consultation,” and that “recruitment for the lower grade posts will be held in the districts under the deputy commissioners, giving due preference to the qualified candidates of the land donor families in lower grade jobs, as assured earlier during the time of land acquisition.”
“The establishment of KVKs in these two districts has been agreed through an MoU signed between the head of SHRDI and the ICAR, with due approval of the competent authority. Therefore, the agriculture department has no right to conduct the interview, unless the SHRDI agrees to it,” it said.
“Earlier, the agriculture department moved a file for conducting a combined interview on which the SHRDI agreed for the officer level posts only, as the interviews for the lower grade posts were being planned to be conducted at the district specific through deputy commissioners, giving preferences to the qualified candidates of the land donor families.
“However, the agriculture department gave advertisement for entire officers and staffs, giving no preference or reservations for land donors, which irked the land donors, who have threatened to take back the land donated if the commitment is not honoured,” the SHRDI said, adding that it has written several letters to the agriculture department to “give corrigendum on the matter, considering the sentiments of the land donors, but to no avail.”
“Ultimately, the SHRDI withdrew itself from the combined interview and officially intimated the agriculture department on 25 June, 2021, not to conduct the interview for the KVKs of Kurung Kumey and Dibang Valley districts. However, the department is forcefully conducting the exam at its own risk,” it said.
“In several conversations with the agriculture director and the KVK in-charges of the agriculture department, it is learnt that the original file for recruitment was only for KVKs under agriculture, but the inclusion of KVKs under horticulture department was made at the secretariat level.
“Those candidates giving the interview being conducted by the agriculture department should be aware that the sole responsibility of engaging them in the job will be on the agriculture department, not the SHRDI,” it said.
The SHRDI also clarified that “no recommendation for engagement of officers or staffs through the current interview by agriculture department would be entertained in respect of the KVKs of Kurung Kumey and Dibang Valley districts, as the SHRDI will conduct the recruitment exam by itself when the appropriate time comes.”
