The Timehri (North) Community Development Council (TNCDC) last Saturday completed a six-day clean-up campaign and it is putting those responsible for dumping waste in the community on notice that it will move to have them prosecuted if they continue.
According to a press release from the TNCDC, the clean-up, which was conducted from June 11 to June 17, saw the weeding of all the parapets in the community, the trimming of overhanging trees and shrubs that encroached the roadways, and the grading and removal of encumbering material that had narrowed the vehicular carriageway, presenting a danger to hundreds of children.
The cost of the clean-up, estimated at $450,000, excluded the use of heavy duty and other equipment and other voluntary institutional labour, the release stated. The community is in the area of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIAC) and it is conscious of the first impressions persons arriving on flights could draw from its appearance, the release noted. The TNCDC also slammed “agencies and corporations” that continue the “abominable and retarded practice of wanton dumping of garbage along the roadway opposite the Timehri Remand Centre of the Guyana Prison Service and around the unused sand pit that provided accommodation for recreation of our youth and children…”
The Council identified the Cheddi Jagan International Airport Corporation as one such guilty party and noted that it sent correspondence inviting it to be a stakeholder in the clean-up campaign. However, apart from a signature and date stamp, there was no acknowledgment. Nevertheless, the TNCDC said it is inviting those agencies responsible for dumping garbage to work with the community on the maintenance aspect following the clean-up. It further warned that if the dumping continues, it would move to have charges filed. “We do have photographs of vehicles, agents and servants of the aforementioned corporations/agencies, dumping garb age and other materials on our roadways, and will continue to do so, but this time file charges against such as are caught in the act,” it said.
Meanwhile, the Council gave credit specifically to the efforts of the administration of the Timehri Remand Centre of the Guyana Prison Service and the Guyana Defence Force, Base Camp Stephenson, for their community involvement that “helped in a way that cannot be quantified.”
