The dispute over land between the Batavia Village Council and a Bartica miner is yet to be formally resolved, even though surveying of the land has been long completed.
Toshao Orren Williams yesterday explained that the Village Council has not had any further communication with either the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), or Rickey Ramnarine, the miner.
He noted that the survey of the disputed land, which was agreed upon by both parties, was completed almost a month ago and demarcations were made, which were deemed acceptable by the Village Council.
Initially, the Toshao had expressed hope that the verification of the demarcation by the GGMC officials would be completed within a week of the land survey.
Notwithstanding, Williams indicated that there are plans to reach out to both Ramnarine and GGMC after the Christmas season, to have the dispute formally resolved. As reported by this newspaper, the Village Council and Ramnarine, who had been accused of infringing on the council’s land rights, agreed to the land being surveyed in a bid to resolve the dispute, which began in mid-September of this year.
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 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 done, another meeting is to be held for the parties involved to negotiate the way forward.
Attempts have been made to contact the miner for a comment on the case, however, these attempts have proven futile.
