Dear Editor,
On my route home, coming from the airport, I passed the seawall along the Turkeyen area and was taken aback by the deplorable state of the coconut trees planted along the banks of the seawall. On my way to work the following morning, I made it a priority to park my car there for a few minutes, and as I stood there, I could not believe my eyes. The coconut trees planted for the purpose of beautifying the area and for the purpose of erosion prevention have been stripped bare, damaged, left standing in a ‘skeletonized’ manner and even worse, sadly burnt. The coconut trees have now become uglier. It was as if the trees were crying out for help, begging to be saved and protected, and calling for attention from any individual(s) who is part of the ecosystem, with the power to speak out on their behalf to help them. What a painful and shameful sight it was and still is. And, it appears that it might be perpetual, as the authorities seem to be dead!
I had recently highlighted this issue on my Facebook page and in the media in one of my many writings titled, `These coconut trees have been destroyed,’ published in the August 10th, 2019 edition of the Stabroek News. I am happy that most of the newspapers carried the article with the photographs attached, but sadly, even to this day, nothing was ever done.
I have made efforts to speak to the PR officer, as I was trying to create a meeting to sponsor two notice boards to warn people not to steal the branches or to interfere with the trees, for they serve a very important purpose of preventing floods, to beautify Guyana and also to prevent erosion. Of course, the Ministry was too busy. The sea wall admin is too busy, they cannot come and see me or have their PR officer come and see me so that we can plan it out. They want me to go sit in line, wait for them until they are ready in their fancy air conditioning offices and then they may talk to me when they feel like it. But you know what? While they sit there, there are some Guyanese who are burning these trees. I cannot seem to understand why! These trees are living creatures. As soon as the leaves reach a certain level, they cut them and burn it. What kind of people do we have in Guyana? Who are these people? Do they not see that these branches create shade from the scorching heat for their comfort while they relax under them, and, for the microorganisms that live there?
I oftentimes wonder, why the Government or the Minister responsible for that department, why they cannot think to ask the security services and the police to do a periodic patrol as they move conveniently – not specifically – to watch out for these things in order to safeguard our environment, so that we are preserving the beauty of these trees that enhances our country and will make it look serene and beautiful. And, at the same time portray us as mature, elegant people with good sense and care for our environment.
Nowhere in the Caribbean or the world do people behave like this, where they cut down and/or burn trees that were specifically placed there for a reason by either the Government or Citizens to enhance the country. These trees were placed by a friend of mine, Mr. Shyam Outar, and were watered by his own hands every day. I always thought it was the vision of the previous Government to plant these trees there, but I later learned that it was not the vision of the previous government, but that of the work of this one individual, a patriot of the land. Now as the trees took off, some Guyanese started stealing the branches for weddings, parties and brooms. Can you imagine this? And now they are burning the trees! Have Guyanese gone mad? Is our Minister responsible or his officials, his engineers, bereft of a sense of belonging and care for Guyana?
It is sad that people cannot understand the concept of the ecosystem – where we depend on each other for survival. My point is, we need to take good care of the trees and they will take care of us in return, they would shield us from the heat and floods in return.
Yours faithfully,
Hajji Dr. Roshan
Khan Snr.
