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‘Region 3 needs another grader and less fancy vehicles’ – AFC Councillor
Despite it being a farming district, the Region Three administration is in possession of only one grader which has been in use for close to 40 years now.
This is according to the Region’s Alliance for Change (AFC) Councillor, Harry Narine Deokinanan, as he related the details of a recent statutory meeting during an interview with this publication.
AFC Councilor, Harry Narine Deokinanan
“It was actually the Regional Chairman, Julius Oliver Faeber who said that the grader was over 40 years old, so it had been there since the PNC (People’s National Congress) time. That means that the PPP/C (People’s Progressive Party Civic) Government never purchased a grader for Region Three,” Deokinanan pointed out.
He said that while the administration continues to purchase luxurious vehicles for regional officials, farmers are up against tremendous inconveniences.
According to Deokinanan, in addition to a canter truck for the education department, four reconditioned vehicles have been purchased and handed to the “big bosses” of the Region.
“While the farmers struggle with their ungraded and deplorable roads and dams, the officials are driving around in their shine rides that have been bought by us, the taxpayers. It’s not right at all,” the AFC Councilor said, adding that the vehicles are not being taken care of.
“They got people who crashing up the vehicles and so…they are not taking care of them, and that shouldn’t be, because it is not theirs.”
Deokinanan, who have been meeting with a number of farmers, were particularly concerned about the hardships faced by those transporting paddy, since the drying and packing of this product takes much time and effort.
“We got one grader, and that caters for so many communities in the Region, so when it’s not out of service, it is being used by other communities. Councilors from Leguan and Wakenaam have been requesting the use of the grader,” Deokinanan said.
He added that such a situation prevails despite the fact that the majority of the dams and roads in Region Three are in bad condition. Most of the roadways needing to be graded and repaired are those used by farmers, like the Parika Backdam road, which had been repeatedly highlighted and is being remedied again by the Ministry of Agriculture.
“There are also the rice farmers at Greenwich Park in Parika on the East Bank of Essequibo. Since last year the residents have been complaining about the roads. They want it to be graded so that they can take their paddies to and from the mill, without their vehicle toppling over,” Deokinanan noted.
He said too that a similar situation is occurring at Windsor Forest, West Coast Demerara, and that farmers there were even “forced to go and air their concerns and their plight on the Voice of the People show that shows on CNS Channel Six, but the administration always be saying that the grader need repairs, and so many works continue to go undone.”
Deokinanan is maintaining that instead of purchasing new and expensive vehicles for regional officials to “drive around in,” monies should be allocated to purchase a new grader, which would serve to benefit the entire Region.
“‘It is high time we get another grader and less fancy vehicles.”
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