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Region Six admin approves transportation, electricity subsidies for sugar workers, children
One of the buses that was recently handed over to the Fyrish Primary School
A decision to unanimously support the motion to finance transportation for children of workers who were severed from the Skeldon Estate and Rose Hall Estate came in for high praise.
The motion which was tabled by Dennis Deroop, Regional Vice Chairman, for Zamal Hussain, PPP/C councillor who was absent at Thursday’s statutory meeting, garnered the support from the majority of the PPP councillors along with several APNU/AFC councillors.
The motion outlined, “…the severed sugar workers have thousands of children attending school and because of the unconscionable decision of GuySuCo and the government, they are no longer able to send their children to school. The RDC should provide financing for the transportation of the affected children in the Rose Hall Canje, East Bank Berbice and Crabwood Creek to Number 56 Village Area”.
Haseef Yusuf, PPP/C Regional Councilor, who supported the motion, stressed that the present situation “will lead to parents having to choose between providing food and transportation costs”.
Carlus Causeway, another PPP/C Regional Councilor and Chairman of the Canefield Enterprise Neighborhood Democratic Council also supported the motion and noted that retrenched sugar workers children are willing to attend school but because of affordance, “their parents cannot afford to send them”.
Samuel Fraser, APNU/AFC Regional Councilor agreed that “more buses are needed”, while APNU/AFC Regional Councilors, Gobin Harbhajan and Devin Sookraj also strongly stood in support.
Deroop stated that at present the region’s budget is financing the operation of the other David G buses within Region Six, running at an approximate cost of $1M a month. This he noted is extracted from the education budget although it wasn’t budgeted for. Deroop added that financing can come from the education budget to follow through with the motion.
According to the VC, feeding programmes have commenced, with a huge support base from the business community and religious bodies. He further noted that business persons who have vehicles are willing to contribute on a short-term basis to “subsidize heavily transportation. They will only charge fares to cover their expenses”. He suggested that a bus is placed in Canje area and another on the East Bank Berbice to add to the already operating one.
Deroop highlighted that a business has come on board to donate its WiFi services and other services to assist the former sugar workers children to complete their projects and School Based Assessments in the Upper Corentyne Area. The same is expected to be done in the New Amsterdam area.
After the presentations were made, the motion was put to a vote and it was unanimously passed.
Recommendations were also made to have the Guyana Power and Light Inc and the Guyana Water Inc provide subsidized electricity and water to the severed sugar workers.
This motion was also passed, with only APNU/AFC councillor Fraser voting against.
“I am not supporting the motion, I would leave that consideration for GAWU and the government,” Fraser asserted.
During a brief interview, after the meeting, Deroop said that the Regional Executive Officer should now “seek ways of implementing that decision taken, the transportation issue is a regional issue and the motion was passed in full, so I expect the REO to follow up on that”.
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