DEOWATIE
RAMKISSOON points to water
running in
her yard.
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SCORES of staunch People’s National Movement
(PNM) supporters from Enterprise South Trinidad have told TnT
Mirror they no longer want local PNM Councillor Ronald Heera as
their representative on the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.
“We want Manning (PM Patrick Manning) to know that,”
said Deowatie Ramkissoon, a housewife on Johnson Trace, Enterprise.
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From left (clockwise):
JASON CHANCE, DAMIAN JOSEPH and JUNIOR
CHANCE want a
bridge built.
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The
50-year-old unemployed mother of two, like the rest of her neighbours,
has been putting up with floods over the last few years.
Whenever it rains heavily, yards are flooded as well as homes.
“And to fix the problem, all they have to do is just finish
building the box drain which they started about two years ago,”
Ramkissoon said.
“Heera really let us down he has done a poor job,” she
added.
“Things might have been better if the area was under the United
National Congress (UNC).”
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Ramkissoon said that areas like Waterloo, Felicity, Charlieville,
Cunupia and other UNC strongholds are well taken care of.
Ramkissoon, a PNM supporter, said that with the recent onset
of heavy rains, the flooding nightmare has begun again.
The residents took the Mirror on a tour of the area to highlight
numerous problems they face on a daily basis.
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The
river running through residents’ yards.
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Construction of a
box drain began some two years ago on the waterway known as the
“River Jordan”.
The river was given the biblical name because members of the Spiritual
Baptist faith used to baptised followers there.
Several squatters have occupied spots on and around the river
bank on lands once belonging to the late Bhadase Sagan Maraj.
Enterprise South is considered the largest squatting area in TnT.
The river now flows through the yards of several of the home owners
and the situation is seriously affecting their lives.
The unfinished work has left some residents without a bridge to
get to and from their homes.
Three young men, Junior Chance, Jason Chance and Damian Joseph
expressed their disgust at the treatment meted out to them by
the authorities.
“They started building the drain,” Joseph said, “then
just so they stop, leaving us in more trouble.
“Look”, he said, pointing to a concrete block in an
unfinished drain.
“They refuse to build a bridge or drop a cylinder so we
could cross when the water is high.
“Children can’t come out to go to school when the
rain fall, for fear they get swept away by the rising water,”
Chase said.
The men severely criticised what they termed the poor standard
of work being done on the drain.
They said that while they wait to have the work restarted on the
drain, all they are demanding now is a temporary bridge for protection.
“At least give us a few cylinders and we will fix a bridge
ourselves,” one of them said.
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