Residents of Batavia, in Region Seven, are up in arms over what they say is an infringement of their land rights by a miner, who has reportedly moved in on village lands.
Toshao of Batavia, Oren Williams, told Stabroek News that the issue had its genesis last Saturday, when the miner entered village lands without the village council’s permission and started clearing sections which he identified as his mining block.
According Williams, the miner claims that he had been granted access to the land by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) some 16 years ago.
Williams added that while attempts were made to have the miner hold off on the land clearing until clarity was sought by the village council, these proved futile. “I was busy looking after the heritage stuff on Saturday, so the Deputy Toshao was asked to look into the matter. She would have met the miner in Bartica and she asked him to hold off everything until Monday so that we can sort everything out and he agreed. But before you know it, he went back to clearing the land,” Williams said.
“We feel helpless and our residents are angry… he is just bullying his way throughout,” the Toshao added.
Nevertheless, a team of three from the village council, including the Toshao and Deputy Toshao, travelled to the city on Monday seeking assistance from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs.
“We came out and visited the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, where we met Mr. Martin Cheong, who took us over to GGMC yesterday (Tuesday) and they showed us on a map that the man has two mining blocks on the land. To the best of our knowledge, he is on our land but according to the map shown by GGMC, he is claiming that he is on his land,” Williams told Stabroek News.
“GGMC has actually told us that he has access to mine there because he was granted a permit in 2002 and has been paying, while we were only given the title for our land in 2014. We need someone to come down here and survey so we can put an end to the confusion,” the Toshao added.
In the meantime, Williams told Stabroek News that they are working to obtain an updated map from the Indigenous Peoples’ Commission to verify that the miner is indeed on their land before they take any additional steps.
