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City Council continues to dump garbage in Le Repentir Cemetery
In case you believe that dumping garbage in the Le Repentir Cemetery had ceased, think again.
Workers from a funeral parlour were forced to fetch this coffin several yards to the burial site after the track they normally use was blocked by this truck and garbage.
While the practice has stopped at the eastern end of the cemetery, it has resumed on the western side near St Stephen’s Street, much to the anger of residents there, cemetery workers and parlour operators.
What makes it worse is that the drivers of the trucks, which were seen dumping garbage, are claiming that they were instructed to do so by the Mayor and City Council.
Earlier this year, the Le Repentir Dumpsite was officially closed after it had reached catastrophic proportions, almost overrunning the Le Repentir Cemetery.
A new landfill site was opened at Haags Bosch on the East Bank of Demerara under the management of a private company.
However, instead of making use of the new dumpsite and easing the suffering of city dwellers, the M&CC has seen it fit to create another dumpsite in the Le Repentir Cemetery, just behind the old incinerator almost touching the once popular St. Stephen’s Ground.
Angry tomb builders in the cemetery told this newspaper that the dumping commenced about a month ago.
They claimed that several graves and tombs had been bulldozed to facilitate the new development.
According to the tomb builders, now that dumping is taking place funeral arrangers have been encountering difficulties finding space for burials.
“The foreman gat to deh hiding everyday from people who pay he fuh find space fuh bury they family and can’t get it,” one of the cemetery workers explained.
They also claimed that the dumping is so uncontrolled that it is also posing a problem for them to get to their work area.
Yesterday, when this newspaper visited the area, a truck filled with garbage was stuck in the track where the workers and even funeral parlour hearses would normally use to access burial sites.
The truck driver eventually emptied the load in the track in an effort to right the vehicle but only succeeded in making the situation worse.
This truck which was contracted by the Mayor and City Council was caught dumping garbage in the Le Repentir cemetery yesterday.
As it turned out, a hearse from the Sandy’s Funeral Home turned up with a body to be buried only to find that the track was blocked.
Eventually, workers had to fetch the coffin several yards to the burial spot.
Residents of the nearby community observed that while efforts are being made to restore the Le Repentir cemetery, the recent development is undermining the programme.
This newspaper contacted a senior M&CC official who claimed that he was unaware that dumping of garbage was taking place in the cemetery.
He however gave the assurance that the matter will be raised with the City Engineer’s Department to ascertain the real situation.
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