Following five days of no activity, the Bourda Market was reopened yesterday for business after a sanitisation and clean-up exercise was sped up by angry vendors.
On Monday, some 40 vendors visited the Office of the Town Clerk to demand that the post-flood clean-up be undertaken swiftly so that they could return to their livelihoods. The market was closed on Thursday after it was flooded like other parts of the city by intense rainfall. The vendors made claims that the Mayor and City Council and the Public Health Department were dragging their feet in the clean-up exercise and were negotiating about the rent arrangement.
After making several calls in their presence, acting Town Clerk Carol Sooba assured the vendors that the market would be reopened on Monday afternoon at around 3pm. However, that was not so. It was not until yesterday morning that customers were seen once again entering the market.
When Stabroek News visited the market yesterday morning, the passageways were fairly clean although an unpleasant stench was emanating from the clogged drains on the western side.
Vendors were seen bargaining as they tried luring the few customers that were present to “stop and shop.”
A businessman called Subash, who operates a small grocery in the market, said that it was absurd that the market had to be closed for such a long period of time for cleaning, especially since vendors themselves had chipped in to ensure that the surroundings were well cleaned.
“It’s all craziness; the market doesn’t have a problem… it’s the people that run the show [that] need to be closely examined…,” he said.
Clothing vendor Selina Paul said that she was happy to return to work and “hustle” so that she can make some money for Christmas. “Christmas coming on and I done tell me self I gotta mek this lil bread (money) and if I had come this morning and see it (market) still closed, we de going back to Sooba…,” Paul related while chuckling.
