The Batavia Village Council is awaiting verification of a recent land survey by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) before commencing negotiations to resolve a dispute with miner Rickey Ramnarine.
The Village Council and Ramnarine, who it has accused of infringing on its land rights, agreed to the land being surveyed towards resolving the dispute.
Oren Williams, Toshao of Batavia, told Stabroek News that the survey was completed last Thursday and that the Village Council is now waiting on the GGMC to verify the demarcations.
Williams said he is hopeful that they will be able to have the verification process completed within a week so as to commence negotiations.
The Toshao and other members of the Village Council were told that Ramnarine had been granted a permit for the two mining blocks in 2002, an estimated 16 years before Batavia received its land title.
Notwithstanding, Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock had sent a letter to Ramnarine and insisted that operations be halted until a meeting could be held to discuss the issue. Subsequent to this, however, Ramnarine opted to continue his operation, which prompted scores of residents from Batavia to journey to the location to shut down the operation themselves.
This would have caused an argument between the two groups, after which a cease order was issued by a GGMC officer from the region to halt the operation.
Ramnarine eventually met with the council in mid-October and a decision was made at the meeting to have an independent surveyor, accompanied by a resident of the village, conduct a survey of the disputed land. Once this is done, another meeting will be held for the parties involved to negotiate the way forward.
