Kutsapo villagers’ community effort wins many hearts

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Jan. 11 (EMN): While community participation is not uncommon among the Naga tribes, menfolk from Kutsapo village under Phek district, in a display of “unity and strength”, recently pulled a truck out of the gorge, winning the hearts of many, both on and off the internet.

A truck carrying ginger belonging to the farmers of the village met with an accident last month, on December 26, falling several metres down the road. Fortunately, none of the eight people, including the driver, travelling in the truck received serious injuries.

The video clips of hundreds of men coming together and pulling the vehicle out, using several ropes and iron chains attached to it, has gone viral on social media platforms and won wide appreciation.

Narrating the incident to Eastern Mirror, the chairman of Kutsapo Village Council, Zashevezo Rhakho, shared that a request was made to all “healthy” men of the village to help pull the truck out.

“The first attempt (earlier) failed, as the ropes we used were not strong enough. That was when we decided to go for an iron rope (sic) and other tools to pull the truck (out)”, Rhakho said.

He narrated that they set up bamboo tracks to prevent the truck from slipping while pulling. They then tied the ropes to the truck and cleared the areas where the wheels of the vehicle would land on.

On January 8 (Friday), at around 9 am, over hundred villagers gathered for truck rescue operation that began the mission with a prayer.

“With more than one hundred menfolk pumping their strength in pulling the truck from different direction, we could easily pull it out within an hour,” Rhakho said.

‘Though it was tiring, it was better to get the job done than not, and we were happy to have pulled the truck out,’ he added.

The villagers pulled the truck all the way from the accident site to the village in orders to avoid blocking vehicular movements on the road, said the village council chairman.

The truck, belonging to a person from Phek town, was on its way to Dimapur to sell the ginger produced by the farmer when it met with an accident.

Rhakho informed that the truck used to carry ginger from the village and sell it in Dimapur and even in the neighbouring state of Assam. He added that they could collect only a few baskets of ginger that fell down from the ill-fated truck.

It may be mentioned that the Village Development Board was first formed in 1976 in Nagaland at Kutsapo, the largest village in Tizu area under Phek district with 534 households as per the 2011 census.

BJP National Spokesperson and Advisor of IT, Science and Technology, NRE, Mmhonlumo Kikon on Sunday shared a video clip of the truck rescue operation on Twitter.

‘In a village in Nagaland, the entire community pulls a truck out which fell off the road with ropes and the spirit of unity!’ he wrote.