While the government, through the Privatisation Unit/NICIL and the Ministry of Agriculture, has paid in excess of $52 million to residents and farmers who will be affected by the canal’s construction, more than a dozen farmers are still awaiting compensation for their land. According to the farmers, they have made repeated trips to the Ministry of Agriculture and to NICIL but are yet to receive any word as to when they will be paid. Efforts to contact Ministry of Agriculture Permanent Secretary Dindiyal Permaul for comment were futile.
The problem, some of the farmers explained, is that the evaluation of the farmlands was done in phases by an official from the Agriculture Ministry and the data from the second evaluation has been misplaced. Most of the affected farmers had their crops assessed during the second evaluation.
According to the farmers, the evaluation of the crops was done in an organised way since the farmers were not even warned beforehand as to when the evaluators were coming. These evaluations, the farmers said, were done some time last year. One farmer told this newspaper that although his farmland was evaluated he could not get compensation because the person who did his evaluation had incorrectly identified the owner. A few farmers told this newspaper that their farmlands were not even evaluated.
According to the farmers, they were told that after they would have reaped that crop, they were not to plant on the land anymore. While some of the farmers followed these instructions, others told this newspaper that they had continued to plant. However, in excess of a 15 farmers are still awaiting their compensation package, which this newspaper understands also includes the promise of new farmlands.
Gangaram Kanhai is one of the affected farmers. He is awaiting reimbursement for the crops he had on his eight acres of farmland, which he said included plantains, bananas, soursop trees, passion fruit trees and other vegetation.
In the meantime, he continues to farm since this is his main means of a livelihood. Other farmers Nazim Ali and rice farmer Subathan Ali are also awaiting their compensation package.
Meanwhile, Harryram Seebalak said that he could not understand how he could only be given just over $1,000 for the crops on his farmland. He said he owns eight acres of farmland and explained that at the time the evaluation was conducted on his farmlands, four of these eight acres contained crops. According to him, after he had reaped these crops he did not replant in accordance with the requests made by the officials from the ministry.
Another farmer Ravindranauth Kishore told Stabroek News that while he has so far received in excess of $400,000 for the crops that were on his farmlands, this was far below what he was expecting. For 150 roots of bora, 1,000 roots of fine-leaf thyme and 20 mango trees, he was given a compensation package of $265,100.
He was given a second compensation package of $170,460 for five roots of bananas, 10 mango trees, 5 guava trees and 640 roots of fine-leaf thyme. According to Kishore, the evaluations done do not reflect the full quantity of what he had planted. According to him, he had planted more than 700 banana and plantain roots alone in addition to several other crops.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud told Stabroek News last week that the process used to determine the compensation given to the farmers is a scientific one. He pointed out that this same method had been used when farmers would have been relocated due to the construction of the Berbice Bridge. He said that while some farmers may not be totally pleased wit the compensation package paid, this system was being used to ensure fairness.
Meanwhile, some residents also complained about the compensation that they were given for their land. One resident, Dawn Washington said that some residents were given a sum of $600,000 for their transported land. Washington opined that this sum was not enough and argued that this was made worse by the fact that residents were now being forced to relocate to the back of Hope, which is in a deplorable state.
Residents also explained that when they met the officials from the Privatisation Unit, the Agriculture Ministry and the negotiator Moses Nagamootoo, they were told they had no choice but to accept the offer that was being made.
