The owners of the Future Gill stall at Stabroek Market, say authorities are refusing to remove a vendor’s mobile display case, which has been illegally placed at its entrance and is encumbering its operations.
“My husband and I bought this stall about 25 years ago and this glass case has been here about the same amount of time that we bought it. Throughout all the years we have tried to abide with it but as the years go by the problem just gets worse,” Devika Persaud, the mother of the two owners of the stall, told Stabroek News yesterday.
While the stall was owned by Persaud’s husband, it was transferred to his two children after his death.
As you approach the Future Gill’s stall, a glass case about 6-ft wide can be seen almost blocking the entrance.
Anyone would think that the glass case belongs to Future Gill and in fact many shoppers often inquire of staff about the contents in the glass.
“It’s not just them being there obstructing my business, the owners are always noisy and multiple people are always around the stall doing illegal things and always causing a ruckus,” Persaud said, while noting that she has a hostile relationship with the owner of the display case.
“We had agreed for them to operate in front even though it was blocking us but now it’s just worse. When a customer goes at the back of their case, which is in front of our store, to check out our merchandise, they are verbally abused and chased away. It affects our sales and we can’t even put stuff above because they are complaining that it will fall in their head,” she said.
Persaud explained that while the problem has spanned over two decades, after multiple reports and complaints were made to the authorities, it was removed from in front of the stall. “It was moved and stayed away for about a year and then about two months after elections it come back and now it’s even worse,” she said.
When this newspaper visited the site, the owner of the display case was not present and an employee refused to speak.
PPP/C parliamentarian Harry Gill, who is the uncle of the Future Gill stall’s owners, says he had raised the issue with Communities Minister Ronald Bulkan to no avail. In a letter published in the October 5 edition of Stabroek News, Gill said too that upon learning that a report had been lodged with Town Clerk Royston King, who was to determine the course of action, if any, he left several messages with King’s secretary over several days but had not gotten a response. “It wasn’t long ago that President Granger reminded public officials that they are the servants of the people. I guess neither Minister Bulkan nor Mr Royston King heard the President’s comment. How difficult is it to return a phone call?” he wrote.
Speaking to Stabroek News yesterday, Public Relations Officer Debra Lewis stated that the council is aware of the issue and is working to resolve it. She said that while the decision to reinstate the glass case at the location was made by the Communities Ministry, the council cannot make a decision without a discussion. She said the matter would be taken to the council’s Markets and Public Health Committee to be discussed and then will be taken to the full council, where a decision will be made in the coming weeks.
However, she said she will visit the owners of the stall and display case to try to get them to arrive at a compromise that would not have to involve the higher authorities.
