Following a Ministry of Housing and Water decision to remove persons from government reserves in Sophia some of those affected have come forward with a petition stating that the move is unfair since all efforts to obtain legitimate house lots have failed.
Minister of Housing and Water Harrinarine Nawbatt had told Stabroek News that notices had been sent to persons living on the embankments in Sophia informing them to move by the end of this month.
Nawbatt had said that according to the ministry’s last count some 165 persons were living there and were presenting an obstruction to government’s execution of drainage and other works. Therefore, he said, the ministry had offered some 44 of them house lots in Sophia and elsewhere. He had said house lots on the West Coast and West Bank Demerara were offered to some of these persons but these were refused.
The minister emphasized that everyone would have to remove, even those for whom lots had not been found. “We do not want to go there and remove them but they are occupying grounds which we need to do drainage works. Because if we do not do that, (when) the rains come they would all be flooded.” He added that the reserves are there for particular purposes such as roads or drainage.
However, a letter addressed to the Minister of Housing and signed by some 73 residents of Fields ‘A’ – ‘E’ Sophia, South Turkeyen stated that they are willing to accept house lots wherever they are available. They say also that they are unaware of anyone having been allocated house lots in Sophia as the minister mentioned.
The letter to Nawbatt mentions the receipt of notices in late November 2006 and notes that though they would prefer to be allocated house lots in Sophia because their children are already attending school there, they are willing to relocate if necessary. Some of the persons have been on the disputed land for the last four to eight years.
Churwin Dickgrant one of these residents explained the situation to Stabroek News along with a female companion who said she had adhered to the ministry’s notice by partially dismantling her house. She is using cardboard for a wall at present but has not been able to obtain a house lot.
The woman, who did not give her name said, to which Dickgrant affirmed, that she has applied over and over again for a house lot and has been interviewed by the mnistry’s officials without any result. Dickgrant said they were asked to return to the ministry on January 15. However, “on our return nothing has happened.” Yet he noted they were being told to break down their houses by January 31.
According to the notice sent to Dickgrant, the Central Housing and Planning Authority in pursuance of the powers vested in it under the provision of the Town and Country Planning Act hereby call upon you to cease and dismantle with immediate effect all unauthorized developments.
The woman later recalled that she had received a house lot during the 1990s but it was disputed, she was therefore forced to wait until the matter was resolved and has not received an allocation letter since. “A group of housing officials then told me to squat,” the woman claimed.
They also pointed out that within Sophia a lot of house lots are unused and are being kept for friends and relatives of residents. The residents feel that these unused lots should be reallocated to them.
