Dear Editor,
On my way to the Lusignan open air market, every Friday midday, I must pass the Good Hope East Coast Demerara, cemetery where my parents and most of their peers are interred, and I feel sad to behold the deplorable state of their final resting place, which is neglected by the administrative authorities of that area.
When my parents and their peers were peacefully placed there the ground was well drained and always kept dry and cared for; but these days for the past ten years the place is always flooded throughout the year, rain or no rain. Relatives of the dead no longer visit that cemetery to pay homage and offer prayers on the spot for their relatives and friends because of the almost knee-height stagnant water. People no longer plant flowers on or around the tombs, because of the flooded stagnant water. Relatives are now forced reluctantly, because of the swampy grounds, to bury the dead nearer to the highway. No order is there too! Only disarray!
The cause of the flood in the Good Hope cemetery is that the rich and powerful who are still alive, have built large unauthorized houses and buildings around the cemetery and encroached on and burdened the drainage infrastructure surrounding the cemetery, thus blocking them. Thus a perpetual flood and a woeful state of affairs
I am making this appeal via SN hoping that before the grim reaper comes for me the relevant authorities may want to submerge themselves in benign consideration to offer and afford my mourners the opportunity to be able to see me go down without a splash!
Yours faithfully
Rooplall Dudhnath
