Dhanash Ramroop

Approximately 180 workers have been retrenched by Barama Company Limited, according to General Manager Mohindra Chand, who says that a drastic slowdown in the market is largely to blame but the government’s protracted review of the company’s contract for renewal has also contributed.

A majority of city councillors yesterday showed support for an amended contract for the controversial parking meters project,  including a much shorter duration and lower fines, but divisions persisted as the Deputy Mayor Sherod Duncan charged that the changes were circulated an hour before the meeting which had been called only for discussion purposes.

Police will be seeking legal advice on how to proceed against two persons who remain in custody after last week’s fatal boat crash on the Aruka River, Commander of ‘F’ Division Rabindranauth Budhram said yesterday.

Between the now year-old transition from diagonal to parallel parking and the impending implementation of controversial parking meters in the central business district, some Robb Street businesspersons fear that the city will become a “ghost town” in the future.

Photos and interviews by Dhanash Ramroop With the growing popularity of T20 cricket, does test cricket have a future?

Photos by Orlando Charles   A fire ripped through a section of a four-storey building at the corner of Avenue of the Republic and America Street yesterday morning, disrupting several small businesses and causing the destruction of tens of millions of dollars in goods.

A freak storm roared through the tiny community of Swan on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway on Saturday flattening fragile homes, toppling trees and ripping roofs off buildings, leaving several residents including some with young children, traumatised and without a roof over their heads.

Following a fire that claimed the lives of two young brothers at the Drop-In Centre on Hadfield Street on Friday, civil society activists and the children’s parents staged a picket outside of the Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) office yesterday calling for answers over the deaths and the state of the building.

While residents and farmers of the Mahaicony Creek are seeing a significant drop in water levels after two months of deep flooding, they are convinced that even tougher times are ahead when the land dries out.

Two young brothers, who were at the Drop-in Centre for less than two days, perished in an early morning fire at the institution and the Ministry of Social Protection’s Child Care and Protection Agency (CCPA) said it took full responsibility for the tragedy.

-insists full council discusses project   Deputy Mayor of Georgetown Sherod Duncan yesterday maintained that the controversial parking meters project should be taken to the full council for approval and he said he will be seeking legal advice on the way forward.

Even though the floodwater has started to recede in Mahaicony Creek areas, farmers’ losses are increasing as their livestock continue to die and their rice farms remain inaccessible.

– but waters rise in Mahaicony Creek Flooding is receding in West Coast Berbice and Moraikobai, but the Mahaicony Creek is experiencing an increase in the water level.

Swamped Mahaicony Creek farmers pleaded with the authorities for help yesterday even as they battled floodwaters and continue to lose their cash crops, livestock and rice as water levels remain stubbornly high.

-solitary pump at key Trafalgar sluice   Photos by Keno George   With floodwater coursing down the Mahaicony River, several Region Five villages remained inundated yesterday and as farmers and householders counted their losses, questions were being raised as to why the drainage authority wasn’t doing more to relieve their plight.

Chairman of National Parking Systems Irfan Cush, who has signed an agreement with the City Council to install parking meters around the city, said he believes their implementation will see Georgetown’s congestion decrease significantly.

Several parts of the Pomeroon remain flooded from an unusually high spring tide and poor infrastructure and residents want intervention from the Regional Democratic Council (RDC).

Several homes at Helena #2, Mahaica, were flooded on Friday after water overtopped the Mahaica Creek dam which has sunk over the years.

City Hall yesterday shut the door on any resumption of vending at Stabroek square, while promising vendors upset over their removal that the temporary site for their relocation would be ready by today.

Youth and women’s representatives yesterday blasted union leaders for not giving them opportunities at the leadership level and called for their inclusion and for succession planning.