Residents of Chateau Margot, East Coast Demerara (ECD) claim that many of the accidents which occurred around the area where Abdul Zameer Abrahim lost his life just over a week ago could have been avoided if the numerous complaints that were made were addressed in a timely fashion.
Abrahim, a resident of Success, ECD, had his life snuffed out on the Railway Embankment,
Chateau Margot by a speeding vehicle as he was making his way home.
The accident triggered a stream of complaints from residents who argued that if their warnings had been heeded this and many other accidents could have been avoided.
According to a resident, who asked not to be named, two particular conditions are to be blamed for the accidents. Firstly, there is usually a large number of “heavy duty trucks” which are parked in a way that is obstructive to traffic.
These trucks are sometimes parked on both sides of the Embankment, and are even double parked on occasion, the resident said. In addition, the resident claimed that the trucks are at times parked very close to the junction of the Railway Embankment and Chimney Street.
According to the source, another resident of the area is in the business of repairing these trucks and as such he parks the trucks in these locations to await maintenance. This, he said, seriously diminishes the visibility of vehicles exiting Chimney Street onto the embankment as well as vehicles passing Chimney Street on the Embankment.
Secondly, there is the poor lighting of the area. The resident stated that the junction of Chimney Street and the Embankment is extremely dark because the light attached to the lantern post on the corner does not work. He said that cars are constantly running into the post rendering the lamp inoperative. This happened several times and the light was fixed each time. However, he related that the light was left inoperative after the last accident. “De people at GPL (Guyana Power and Light) mussy get fed up of fixing the light,” he opined. However, he revealed that the defective light was not the one that was originally on the post. He said that a businessman who lives directly opposite Chimney Street had illegally removed the lamp from its original post, placing it on the post in front of his premises. This, the resident speculated, was “selfishly” done.
Stabroek News contacted GPL’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) on several occasions, but was unable to get a response on the matter.
This newspaper also attempted to contact the owner of the business place where the lamp was situated, but was told by employees that he was not available. When asked if they could confirm or disprove that claim that the light was illegally removed the employees responded, “we ain’t know nothing about it”.
As it relates to the trucks, the resident said that he made multiple complaints to various authorities, including the Beterverwagting (BV) Police Station, as well as the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) responsible for that area. According to the police officer investigating the matter, when he visited the area there were indeed trucks parked on the sides of the road, however, “they were not parked in a manner that would disrupt traffic.” He said that in his estimation the trucks were parked a safe distance off the sides of the road.
In the case of the NDC, a representative confirmed that they had indeed received complaints from residents concerning the trucks and had sent letters to the owner of the truck repair business asking him to remove the trucks from where they were parked, but their letters were ignored. The representative from the NDC indicated that they are currently in the process of following up the matter.
When Stabroek News visited the area, the trucks the resident spoke about could be seen lining the road.
