Annandale woes getting more woeful - a permanent sore is running

Annandale woes getting more woeful – a permanent sore is running

May 12, 2021 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

Stabroek News April 20, 2021 published a letter: “A number of issues in Lusignan, Annandale need to be addressed.” I pick up on this and inform all Guyana that things have gotten worse in scale and numbers, that, the woes are getting worse. Let me elaborate.
For the umpteenth time, the Neighbourhood Village Council scooped the drains along the Market Road and in the streets, and for the umpteenth time, the muck was left right alongside the drains. In the many streets, this means actually banking the muck on the two sides of the already narrow passageway. As expected, vehicles, including trucks, traversing these streets, along with the heavy rains, ensured that the muck returns to its origin – the very drains from which it was dug out. These streets are characterised by potholes, and when it rains, the muck forms messy puddles and walking through these streets becomes challenging and unhygienic.
The northern Market Road adjoining the Main Road is so badly ruined that accessing the Main Road or leaving the Main Road to access the Market Road, turning north is both messy and hazardous. Between the first street, that is Droom Street, and the actual Main Road it is so dilapidated and cave-eroded that when it rains, it is scornful to even drive through that stretch. The businesses that are on the two sides of this said stretch keep offloading goods and materials from heavy duty trucks and sometimes that takes hours. This means that the already converted single lane becomes almost impassable, more so, that taxis are illegally parked, as hustling for passengers goes on.
The funny thing is that some complaints have been raised now and again, but nothing substantial was ever done. Every now and again, the holes will be filled and that usually lasts a day or two. I am wondering if certain sections of Annandale North have become veritable ghettos and are now left in abandonment by the NDC. Or better yet, as it is being rumoured, a subvention for addressing these horrors was tactfully squandered.
My second big-time grouse is that of garbage collecting. In any country with a semblance of order and common sense, garbage collecting is done quite strategically. Usually, it is arranged so that traffic and regular daytime activities are not encumbered. Also, those countries do not have to deal with human and animal scavengers and so can leave their garbage to be collected. Guyana is uniquely ugly in this area, as vagrants, pigs, horses and dogs, etc. raid the garbage if left outside. Now with the Lusignan/Annandale NDC doing pick-ups on Mondays and in an irregular manner, it necessitates accommodating them during the working days and times. This is preposterous. In today’s hard guava-Guyana, parents are working, so no one is there to open and take out the garbage when the open-trailer tractor comes. As with the houses, so are the gates – they are well barred for security reasons. The end result is that many have to resort to dumping their garbage in the drains secretly, or in open lots and the cross street.
My final disgust is with the actual Annandale Market, especially on Saturdays. In the presence of police officers, vendors are at the top of the Market Road, impeding traffic from entering and exiting the market. Also, all of the stands encroach on the Market Road, so that there is jostling to get by. Add the recently erected and now operating used auto spares dealer and we have a hellhole for a market.
So, I am hoping that the Local Government Minister will take his responsibilities seriously. People need a touch of quality in their everyday lives. We do not need to see Phagwah posing and duck curry-eating leaders.

Yours truly,
Mark Udistir

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