The plant shop erected on the government reserve just outside of Pigeon Island on the East Coast of Demerara, has now been ordered by the Ministry of Local Government and the Better Hope NDC to be dismantled by the end of this week.
On Sunday when this newspaper contacted the chairman of the Better Hope Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), Zaman Shaw, he had said that the matter was brought before the council which did not object to the building of the plant shop by owners, Phulmatie Budhram and Seudayal Singh. However, he said that the owners were also told that construction could only begin once permission was granted by the Ministry of Public Works. Both Shaw and Budhram claimed that while no written letter of permission was granted, Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill, called Shaw on speaker phone in the presence of Budhram who was at the time in the minister’s office, to say that the building of the plant shop could commence. Edghill when contacted on Sunday by Stabroek News vehemently denied that permission was ever granted.
