Dear Editor,
 It may have been a laughing matter last week when the CEO of the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) Mr Karan Singh was being forced by an angry mob in East Canje that pressured him (pun intended) to drink water from the taps of East Canje villages, but the entire episode carried a very serious meaning.  

Mr Singh was involved in a loud confrontation with residents of East Canje on a visit to the area last week stemming from numerous letters written in these columns by yours truly about the poor service GWI has been giving to residents of Cumberland and Canefield.
It has been recommended on numerous occasions that a water treatment plant be set up in East Canje to deal with the problem of untreated, smelly, iron-filled water that residents of those areas receive. 

But couldn’t last week’s meeting have been set up in a more orderly and organised fashion? The meeting with the Prime Minister, Minister of Health and CEO of GPL last week at the Canje Welfare ground ended up in similar chaos whereby the attendees were out of order and shouting and confusing the officials present.

Nothing came out of that GPL meeting with sugar workers, and I am sure that nothing came out of Karan Singh’s meeting with irate East Canje residents.  

The government, always running to people’s rescue whenever they are angry or irate over any situation, usually sends officials rushing to these areas to meet the public and those affected by whatever crisis is pending.

However, these meetings usually end up with public individuals, who have little or no respect for government officials, shouting as if the officials are deaf or are one mile away from them, confusing these officials and being just plain rude! Let these meetings, whenever and wherever they happen again, be properly organised and planned.

The manner in which these officials will listen to individuals must also be planned so as to avoid several persons talking at any given time, shouting and behaving in a disorderly manner.

Mr Karan Singh was challenged to say that the water that East Canje residents receive from the Sheet Anchor and Cumberland wells is safe for drinking.  Several persons arrived with bottles of discoloured, muddy and iron-filled water that was received through their taps. After being pressured by the angry mob, Mr Singh took one of the bottles with nasty, muddy, discoloured pipe water and drank nearly half of it. The rest, as they say, was history. 

Mr Singh, I will ask again that a water treatment plant be set up in this area so that residents will no longer have to behave as they behaved last week and the area can receive clean, wholesome and pure water.
Yours faithfully,
Leon J. Suseran