Dear Editor,
I wish to bring to public notice the phenomenon of flooding on the lower East Coast Demerara.
It would seem that every rainfall of significance results in a flooding. By comparison the same does not happen in Regions 3,5 and 6 with the same regularity.
One is left to wonder how this could be. Some pump and koker attendants were spoken with from the above Regions and their replies were very interesting. In Region #4 the attendants were not paid overtime and for work on weekends and holidays.
This causes flooding when it rains on Fridays, weekends and holidays. In the other Regions this is not so.
Region # 4 it seems has to cut corners since it receives less allocations from central Government than Regions # 5 and 6. While this may save the administration some cash the farmers and residents suffer greatly.
One wonders if anyone has ever looked at the end cost of this policy. Pump and koker attendants are on the lower wage/salary scale. The saving, therefore, from this policy will be relatively small when compared with the losses of the farmers.
It should be noted that the country also loses foreign exchange since buyers export farm produce from some of the affected farmers.
It is advisable that Region # 4 and Central Government revisit this policy and come up with a workable solution to this regular flooding.
Some measure of assistance should be considered to help the affected farmers get to the land after this recent flood.
Yours faithfully,
L. Ralph
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the chairman of Region four for any comments he may wish to make.
