A 50-year-old man is pleading for the approval of his house lot after his shack at Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara collapsed around 2 am on Christmas Day.
Ganeshram Sahobia, a construction worker, told Stabroek News that the house, located on the government reserve close to the seaside, fell on one side due to heavy winds.
It caused his beams in the house to be damaged, as well as his refrigerator and television.
He said his nephew, Videsh, 30, and his brother, Bharat, 63, were in the house, sleeping.
Videsh was awoken when the wardrobe crashed down on the bed and hurt his foot.
Bharat told him he felt it shaking and heard loud crashing sounds. They tried to run to safety and they noticed that the stairs were broken.
Sahobia has occupied the reserve for several years and badly wants to move. During heavy rainfall,they “would get wet in the house.”
He applied for his house lot and was interviewed in 2022. He subsequently received a letter from the Central Housing & Planning Authority (CH&PA) that he had qualified for a low income house lot.
The letter also stated that the CH&PA “will communicate with you at a later date, the area available for allocation and the cost of the land.”
In the meantime, he was told regarding the reserve, “don’t build (renovate), don’t bruk until they give consent.”
Sahobia, a single father, said he and his 14-year-old son and his two daughters; ages 10 and 12 had gone to a ‘wake house’ for another nephew who was murdered, on the East Bank of Demerara, when disaster struck.
He received a phone call about the incident and when he returned he saw the house leaning on one side. It was badly damaged.
With the help of his brother and kind neighbours, they tried to “strap the house to bring it down flat before if break more.”
After that, the back of the house was still tilted on one side.
A neighbour, known as ‘Aunty Love,’ said the next morning when she woke up she saw the house “on the ground… it kant on one side like this,” gesturing with her hands.
She helps to look after the children and reiterated that during the inclement weather, the children “does really punish and we does have to deh by them side…”
Another neighbour, Shameer Ali, said everyone in the street pitches in to assist the children, especially when their father gets home late from work.
Both of the neighbours are asking for Sahobia to get his house lot and for assistance to rebuild a better house for him and his children.
Sahobia said he had decided to knock up a little house on the reserve because he could not afford to pay his rent.
“That time I used to work at sea and sometimes you get blows and sometimes you get a good catch. If you nah pay the rent in time, they (tenants) does want raise the rent and when you can’t pay, they put you out,” he pointed out.
He lamented that he does not want to continue squatting on the reserve and for another tragedy to occur.
He wants a better life for his children and the only way to do that is to get his house lot and move out.
