http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archives/2007-05-13/news6.html
Ex-sugar
workers want to know why the Government did not consider
them as recipients for some 2,000 prime residential lots
of Caroni (1975) Ltd developed by the Estate Management
Business Development Company (EMBDC).
These lots, in four areas—Orange Field, Balmain, Factory
Road, Chaguanas, and Montserrat—are to be sold to middle-income
earners of the public, through the Housing Development Corporation
(HDC).
Confirming this new development in the allocation process
of Caroni lands yesterday, Minister in the Ministry of Finance,
Senator Christine Sahadeo, said the 2,000 lots in the four
areas would be sold at a “considerably higher price”
than the $20,000 to $30,000 a lot being offered to former
Caroni workers.
Sahadeo, in a telephone interview, said the HDC would set
the criteria and conditions for the sale of the land to
the public and would make the relevant announcements shortly.
Assuring that all ex-Caroni employees who applied for housing
lots would be given lands, Sahadeo said initially, slightly
more than 7,000 lots were to be developed for the VSEP-availed
sugar workers, of whom there were just over 5,000 applicants.
In an immediate comment on this new development, Rudy Indarsingh,
head of the All Trinidad Sugar and General Workers Trade
Union (ATSGWTU) has questioned claims by Sahadeo that ex-sugar
workers would be given priority treatment as regards allocation
of Caroni lands.
And the ex-sugar workers themselves are questioning why
they were not given lands in any of these four areas. Several
ex-sugar workers visited the Guardian’s Chaguanas office
last week to complain about crime at Roopsingh Road,Waterloo—one
of the areas where lots are being allocated—and said
they should have been given lots at Factory Road instead.
The ex-sugar workers who have been given lots at Roopsingh
Road, Waterloo said a growing crime problem was making this
site undesirable. They said that with the closure of Caroni
(1975) Ltd, squatters from various parts of T&T moved
into the area and that crime has become a problem and that
a Crimestoppers neighbourhood watch sign was even stolen
from the area earlier this year.
The ex-sugar workers were fearful that the criminal element
would steal building materials, which they noted was not
exactly cheap or easy to come by. And they were also concerned
about illegal drugs and associated behaviours which they
said were not conducive to a healthy neighbourhood.
Yesterday, Sahadeo insisted that there was transparency
in the process of allocating lands to the ex-sugar workers
and noted that if a particular site was oversubscribed,
the recipients of lots could choose other lots at a different
site or participate in a lot-swapping programme organised
by Caroni.
Indarsingh questioned why lots at the four sites were not
made available to ex-sugar workers.
“Sahadeo,
in her speech to ex-workers two weeks ago at Woodford Lodge,
assured that ex-Caroni workers would be given priority to
lands before any distribution is to take place to the public.
Where is the priority, Madam Minister? Why are these lands
being held back?
“Is
the Government saying that former sugar workers are not
good enough to live in an upscale community and be given
some dignity in their lives, or is it that the Government
plans to give these lands to their friends and family?
“Who
will oversee the application process at the HDC? Will this
process be done with fairness and equity or will nepotism
reign supreme?”
Indarsingh said the union has been bombarded by former sugar
workers who have said they do not want land at Roopsingh
Road, but at Factory Road.
“If
it is that these lands were initially developed for the
former sugar workers, why is it that they are now being
denied this?” he asked.
Contending that the decision to sell lands at the four sites
amounted to “continued discrimination” of sugar
workers, Indarsingh said he would be meeting shortly with
attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj to discuss this new twist
of events.
Maharaj is representing a group of ex-sugar workers in a
judicial review matter in the High Court concerning the
non-receipt of lands promised them by the Government.
Indarsingh contended that the whole question of politics
has come into the distribution of lands, that “lands
in these prime locations would be allocated to PNM party
card holders.”
Reiterating that Caroni’s residential lots were supposed
to be distributed ex-Caroni workers first in terms of where
they had applied for land, Indarsingh said:
“The
time has come for ex-Caroni workers to be mobilised to make
their voices be heard on this land matter.”
—
Reporting by Adrian Boodan