The Guyana Sugar Corporation Inc. (GuySuCo) yesterday said that it will commence rehabilitation on the building it provides as living quarters for its workers on the Torani Canal’s head compound in Berbice, as soon as the budget estimate is completed and approved.
In a statement responding to an article in Sunday’s Stabroek News, GuySuCo Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Bhim said it was only on August 24 that an inspection was done of the building to determine an estimate for its complete rehabilitation. “In keeping with our ongoing efforts industry-wide to rehabilitate assets of the Corporation, the operation at the Torani Canal in Region 6 has been engaging the attention of GuySuCo,” the statement said. It was stated that because of GuySuCo’s limited financial resources, an assessment was conducted by officials attached to the Rose Hall Estate and it was determined that priority will be given to the Torani tail-end house as it was considered to be in a more urgent need of rehabilitation. “This building was completed a few weeks ago and immediately after this an inspection was conducted on the building at the Torani head,” GuySuCo noted. It said that extensive photos were taken of both the exterior and interior of the building. “Rehabilitation of the building will commence when the budget estimate has been completed and approved,” it added.
There was no indication of whether bathroom and toilet facilities would be provided, the compound would be fenced and cleared of bushes or if the stelling was going to be repaired. These were all issues raised by the workers during a visit by Stabroek News on August 20.
During the visit, workers said that they would strike unless their “terrible” working conditions were improved. The workers said there are no bathroom and toilet facilities and the stelling that leads down to the riverside, which is their only access to water, was falling apart.
The workers had indicated that the building, which houses 17 occupants many of them small children, was in such a dilapidated condition that it is a waste of time to repair it. They noted that workers from GuySuCo had visited the location with the intentions of effecting repairs to the building and they protested. According to them, the visit was shortly after the workers had made repairs to the building that houses the workers at the Torani tail.
The Torani Canal is a 14 mile canal that links the Berbice and Canje rivers. It was stated that the 44 mile long Canje River is the only fresh water source in Region 6 and whenever water levels are low, the Torani link canal allows for an intake of water from the Berbice River.
GuySuCo said that its constant effort to maintain an acceptable water level in the Canje River is critical to agriculture production in Region 6, since apart from supplying the estates of Skeldon, Albion and Rose Hall with fresh water, it also supplies the Manarabisi rice cultivation of approximately 17,000 acres and Black Bush Polder also with approximately 17,000 acres.
“The free flow of water in the Canje River is also critical for the transportation of farmers, goods and services and to allow vessels playing the route to take fuel to the pump stations along the river,” it noted.
Meanwhile, responding to statements made in the article by Aubrey Harris, who worked on the compound for almost all of his adult life, the statement said that the man is receiving a pension which he is entitled to. Harris had told this newspaper that following his retirement he received no gratuity from the corporation, which had promised that his years of service with the Ministry of Agriculture would have been transferred when it took over in 1998. The man said because of the nature of the job, which requires that they live on location, he has never built a home and had hoped that with the payment of his gratuity he could have done so for himself and wife and younger children.
According to the statement, the senior Harris was appointed as an outstation pump charge-hand on April 1st 1998, at Torani. He was issued a letter signed by the then Administrative Manger O. H. Griffith, stating that all his years of service with the Ministry of Agriculture will be transferred to the corporation for the purpose of computing his benefits.
“His personal file record confirms the transfer of his service from 1970. Mr. Aubrey Harris attained pensionable age of 60 years on 8th April 2007; however he was given the opportunity to work through the year until 31st Dec. 2007,” the statement said. “Almost three years later Mr. Harris continues to occupy the house at Torani head with his three sons, Regan, Rouqueston and Richardo, two of whom are operator 11 and one who succeeded his father as a charge-hand at the Torani Head,” the statement continued.
Upon further clarifications sought about the benefits Aubrey Harris said he should have received, Bhim said the man is being “paid a pension which he is entitled to.”
And in response to the workers claim that there is no radio system on location, the statement said that such a claim is not accurate as communication between the operators at Torani head and tail-end is “very crucial to maintain the effectiveness of the drainage and irrigation system when closing or opening the sluices at both ends of the canal.”
