Dear Editor,
It has been five years since I have been engaged in an unrelenting battle to have a neighbouring sawmill relocate their moulder to another area within the facility. The moulder emits loud noise, and many attempts by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to catch the sawmill operator in violation, after he was caught the first time, have failed. When the people from the EPA visited, the sawmill would feed low density wood into the moulder or simply turn the machines off and say that they have broken down.
I have now appeared to be the nuisance by constantly complaining. In fact, I was told by some that I knew a sawmill was there and I chose to live next door. In other words, the land around the sawmill must be left abandoned for the sawmill to dump its sawdust and wood shavings. This was certainly the practice of the sawmill, until I moved it. I hired an excavator and removed 40 truckloads of saw dust and waste.
It is 7 o’ clock Sunday morning… I am still in my bed, and the noise has started. The drainage has been blocked for five years, resulting in me being flooded out whenever it rains, and the sawmiller has refused to clear it. The Minister of Communities knows of this problem, the Head of the EPA knows of this problem, yet no efforts are being made to control the dust, contain the noise and clear the drainage. The NDC is always ready to lend their support to the violator sawmill. The Chairman would provide the sawmill with various letters stating that where my house is built is not authorized for a residence. According to the logics of the Chairman, the land is suited for the dumping of garbage by the sawmill.
I would like to ask the supporters of the Coalition Government a simple question. What would be the legacy of this Government? What have they done over the past four years that have impacted on the lives of ordinary Guyanese in a positive manner? Nada?
Yours faithfully,
Fazal Gafoor
