The housing authorities yesterday morning swooped down on a group of squatters who attempted to settle on state land close to the cane fields aback Anna Catherina, just days after a spring tide felled some of their homes and flooded their yards.
When Stabroek News visited the seawall area yesterday, the residents of Anna Catherina Sea View were contemplating their next move, since, according to them, they were given a six-day ultimatum to remove from the area or face having their homes dismantled by the housing authorities. Attempts to clarify the ultimatum with the Ministry of Housing yesterday were in vain, but the residents displayed several letters which they received from the Ministry of Housing offices at Vreed-en-Hoop on several previous occasions, including letters dating back to 2006.
Earlier yesterday, Housing Minister Irfaan Ali and a team visited
the spot at Anna Catherina where some residents from the seawall area had started erecting small structures. The land belonged to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) but has since been under the ownership of the state. According to Mark John, who had been squatting at the seawall area for more than 10 years, several persons from the area who had been deeply affected from the effects of last week’s high tides, decided to settle the parcel of land aback Anna Catherina, “on the other side of the public road.” He said since Saturday persons had been erecting small structures on the land, near the cane fields. He related that around 9 am yesterday, a group of men approached the area and informed that they were given the authority to dismantle the illegal structures the residents had erected. He said there was a brief confrontation between the two parties and the police were soon called in to defuse the situation. Three persons were arrested following the melee.
- Two residents of Anna Catherina Sea View discuss their next move yesterday as they look at the remains of their home (extreme right). (Photo by Alva Solomon)
John, a father of 10 who had been living in the area some 15 years to date, stated that Minister Ali then arrived on the scene and informed the residents that the housing authorities are planning to have them relocated to housing schemes in the West Demerara area, including Parfait-Harmonie and parts of Tuschen. He said the minister’s team also informed that persons who applied for house lots prior to 2009 will have their applications reviewed as early as possible. Some persons who only applied for house lots last year, yesterday wore worried expressions on their faces.
The Sea View residents were peeved after the developments yesterday, saying that it was only after the spring tide affected them that the housing authorities started to look after their needs. Rajendra Doodnarine, who had been living at Anna Catherina Sea View several years now, told Stabroek News that he applied to the Ministry of Housing for a plot of land and was given several letters of acknowledgment but despite monthly visits to the ministry there was no movement.
John’s wife told Stabroek News that she also made regular trips to the Housing Ministry in order to obtain a house lot but her visits never bore any fruit.
She said she and her husband applied for a house lot several years ago and while their application was acknowledged once, no other correspondence came their way from the Housing Ministry. She said that several years ago officials from the Housing Ministry visited the area and a record was made of their names while the officials painted numbers on their homes. Some of the numbers were still evident yesterday. Other residents displayed acknowledgement letters they received from the Ministry of Housing offices in Region Three. Some dated back to 1998.
- Several homes along the sea wall at Anna Catherina Sea View, some of which were levelled following last week’s spring tide.
The residents stated that they had no qualms about relocating from the area but insisted that the authorities should put adequate measures in place for them to relocate, since their livelihoods depended on the surroundings they live in; the breadwinners of the households being fishermen. According to the residents, as it is the out-of-crop season in the cane fields, where most of the men work as cane cutters, the men would take up other trades in order to maintain their families.
Approximately 200 persons live in the Sea View area and some of the houses along the seawall were empty yesterday. According to a resident, some persons had temporarily relocated from the area in order to make arrangements for their children to attend school. Several homes, some of them small shacks, and their fences, were lying in the grass; the structures having fallen under the pressure created by waves which overtopped the seawall between Tuesday and Saturday of last week. Officials of the Guyana Power and Light Company were also in the area yesterday to remove meters from the homes of residents who planned to relocate from the area.
Meanwhile, Stabroek News understands that there was minimal flooding in parts of the Leguan, Essequibo River yesterday, where officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) and the Ministry of Public Works had been working round the clock to minimise water intrusion of the island’s sea defence, particularly in the Waterloo area.
A resident of La Bagatelle told Stabroek News that the spring tide appeared to have “cut”, adding that there has been “little” overtopping of the sea defence structure on the island.
There had been several instances of overtopping of the island’s sea defence over the past several months and residents there had been calling on the authorities to improve the sea-defence structure.