Proprietor of the Celina Atlantic resort, Bernard Yhun, says that he is being victimized. His vehicle was impounded by police for an alleged infraction recently.
And after parking had been banned in the car park of the Kitty resort, on Friday evening two Bobcats and an excavator used by the government/city council in the clearing of drains parked there.
He contended that recent remarks by President Bharrat Jagdeo were the reason that the police were acting in a manner that saw his vehicle being impounded on Thursday. He stated that on Thursday as he was delivering vegetables to the establishment, the police drove up and ordered him to drive to the Brickdam Police Station where his vehicle was impounded and he was ordered to return the next day. He said that upon his return the next day he was given the “runaround” by officers at the station and it was not until late that afternoon that he retrieved the vehicle. He said that as a result he had lost valuable business hours and declared that the current situation was affecting his business. “It’s unfair and I believe I am being pushed against the wall” he asserted. He said that he was placed on $5,000 bail and is due to attend court today for the alleged infraction, the nature of which he was not told.
He said on Friday night two Bobcats and an excavator had parked at the car park though vehicles had been prohibited by the police from parking there. He declared that “if I park there the police would lock me up” and said that “what goes for one should go for all”. He further said that the light in the area where customers now park had been turned off leaving the area in darkness and unsafe and customers reluctant to park there. He also stated that he was recently sent a letter requesting him to clean up the area around the resort. He asserted that he didn’t have a problem with that but questioned whether it was fair as he said that persons routinely dumped garbage in the area. This included the cleaners who throw the garbage into the sea which floats back to the area. He declared that he had staff to consider and bills to pay.
The seawall resort saga began last year, when, after Yhun had received permission from the relevant agencies to construct the car park, one evening while a function was being held there, traffic ranks towed away a number of vehicles from the parking lot. Sources had told this newspaper the orders came from those ‘higher up’. Yhun had brought this to the attention of this newspaper, and to avoid further trouble he had taken the initiative to erect a no-parking sign close to the car park, stopping customers from using the car park as he awaited a verdict on the matter.
He said that he had spent some $4.5M to build the facility. The Ministry of Public Works by a letter dated August 18, 2006, permitted him to pave the 160 ft by 20 ft strip of pavement. Secretary of the Sea Defence Board, J. Jafferally and Chairman J.A. Cush were the main signatories and the permit was countersigned by the Chief Sea and River Defence Officer. Yhun had said that the plan was submitted to the division and approved before he started working.
Following the incident Stabroek News made contact with Public Works Minister Robeson Benn. In a comment to this newspaper, Benn had said that the pavement was built in the wrong place and at that time Yhun had said that he was facing dwindling business amid high overheads and he complained, too, that he had been making calls to the ministry but to no avail. But Benn said the ministry’s original intention was to allot the area further west of the resort for Yhun to construct the pavement. He said that the proprietor of the resort might have started working on the parking lot even while the ministry was still taking many factors into consideration. “In the overriding interest of public safety, we decided to go this way; many safety considerations were not taken in the construction of the pave.”
Yhun contended that he was not told anything by anyone and had only been updated on what was happening through articles in this newspaper. Moreover, through all this the Traffic Department has made no formal move declaring the park a ‘no parking zone’. And it was only after pictures were carried in this newspaper showing vehicles parked outside Celina that the Traffic Department’s hand was forced and the entire area was subsequently ‘yellow lined’ with a more obvious no-parking sign. Additionally, the area just opposite the parking lot has been officially declared a no-parking zone. After Christmas last year, the resort hosted the year-end parties of two government ministries, education and home affairs, and photos of several vehicles breaching the no-parking sign were carried in this newspaper.
At the recently concluded Police Officers’ Conference, in an apparent reference to Celina, President Jagdeo had called on traffic ranks to pay attention to what he termed “little transgressions” as he spoke about having to intervene in the operation of a car park since it was at a critical junction. The president had implored the ranks to notice things of this nature, “these little transgressions”.
Yhun on Saturday said that following the report the police had increased their patrolling in the area.
