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Fire razes Bourda Market stalls
– vendors seeking compensation from GPL
A group of Bourda Market vendors is seeking compensation from the Guyana Power and Light after losing millions of dollars in an electrical fire that destroyed three stalls early yesterday morning.
The stalls, which are located on Bourda Green, in the vicinity of Orange Walk and North Road, were all stocked with groceries when the fire broke out. The vendors said that nothing was saved.
Mrs. Chandrowtie Seepersaud near her gutted stall
The vendors told Kaieteur News that they were informed that persons in the area recalled seeing electrical wires near the stalls sparking around 2:30 hrs just before the stalls were razed.
“They say that thief man does thief and lef’ but fire doan lef nothing,” lamented Chandrowtie Seepersaud, whose freezer was also destroyed with her stall and groceries.
“GPL has to give me something. All my earnings deh here.”
The Alberttown Fire Station is located a short distance from Bourda Market, and it is unclear why firefighters were unable to reach in time to save the stalls.
Kaieteur News was told that a female official from GPL visited the area yesterday and asked the victims to list their losses and submit an estimate.
The vendors said that they are to submit this information today.
Chandrowtie Persaud, who has been running her grocery stall for 41 years, said that a daughter, whose stall was also razed, conveyed the news to her around 06:00 hrs.
She arrived about an hour later to find her stall gutted.
Her daughter, Bissoondai Rajnarine, owns an adjoining grocery stall, and suffered similar losses as her mother.
Mrs. Rajnarine stated that she has been running her business for over 20 years.
Her son, Deoraj Rajnarine, who assists his mother with the business, said that they received a call around 05:30 hrs that their stall was on fire.
“We came and see the stall burnt, we lost everything.” He estimated their losses at around $3M. According to him, the GPL official who visited the area indicated that the company would attempt to compensate them as much as it could.
The vendors all said that they would be unable to restart their businesses without financial assistance.
This was the fifth major fire to occur within the past four days. On Friday, an estimated $1B was lost after arsonists destroyed the historic Ministry of Health building in Brickdam.
On Sunday, separate fires razed a Wismar night spot and a home in the same location, while another fire, which appeared to have been deliberately started, destroyed an auto warehouse at Good Hope, East Coast Demerara.
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