(Trinidad Express) Justice Minister Herbert Volney on Wednesday went to court in an attempt to block the annual Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) Carnival fete.
Volney, through his attorneys, Jagdeo Singh and Kelvin Ramkissoon, made the verbal application before the Licensing Committee at the Tunapuna Magistrates’ Court, chaired by Senior Magistrate Nanette Forde-John.
Singh promised the court that before the end of this week, he would supply the objections of his client, Volney, who in his capacity as Member of Parliament for St Joseph, is objecting to the hosting of the event at the WASA Recreation Ground in St Joseph. The objection is based on the level of noise which emanates from speaker boxes during the fete, which attracts thousands of patrons. Forde-John later adjourned the matter to January 26, when she would hear submissions from attorneys representing the fete’s promoters, Icon Bliss and WASA Sports and Cultural Club, and those objecting, before she makes a determination.
The fete is scheduled to take place on January 29.
Also present in court during Wednesday’s hearing were Nadia Tiwarie, a noise administrator at the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), and Jennifer Juteram, a legal officer with the Authority.
Speaking with the Express outside the courthouse after the matter was adjourned, Volney said for far too long the loud music at the fete has affected babies, their mothers and staff at the nearby Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex (EWMSC) Mater-nity Hospital and the Children’s Paediatric Ward of the hospital at Mt Hope.
“Following the dictates and the wishes of my constituents as well as the staff at the hospital who have approached me, I have decided that it will be my duty to mount an objection to the granting of that licence and, in fact, the fete itself to be held on the WASA grounds.
“The principal basis of the objection is the proximity of the Children’s Hospital as well as the babies’ hospital. The nurses and other people during my stay (for open-heart surgery) at the (EWMSC) hospital came to me and they asked me to take up this cause on their behalf because they say when the boom boxes start, the children and the babies are traumatised and bawl throughout the night and they suffer greatly because of the noise, as well as the patients, many of them have come out of surgery and it really is a trauma for the whole hospital,” Volney said.
