Bad roads distress Mayo residents

RESIDENTS of Mayo Road, Tortuga came together yesterday to discuss a course of action regarding landslides that left them in distress. After heavy rains last week, the main road fell apart leaving it impassible. People now have to walk on the uneven road for miles to reach their homes. Shaun Ramsawak said villagers intend to take their protest to the Prime Minister and to Works Minister Rohan Sinanan. He said delivery trucks and garbage trucks cannot enter this area, and if there is an emergency no ambulance can get in.

“Students and workers who are out after 6pm find great difficulty walking into the village as there are no street lights.” He said residents now park their vehicles and walk an additional half mile to get to their homes. The water supply has been cut and the electricity poles have fallen. A wooden house belonging to Jason and Tanuja Sookdeo was destroyed in the landslide and three other houses owned by Indira Persad, Ramdeo Lakhan and Shastri Lakhan are on the verge of collapse.

Residents Basdeo Beharry, 68, and his wife Taruna Beharry, 64, have been living there for over 50 years.

“It is most difficult to get out of home to buy groceries and to visit the doctor,” Basdeo said.

He told Newsday there are several senior citizens living in the village and they may suffer as a result of not being able to go get to the hospital. Children have also been unable to get to the Tortuga Government Primary School and vegetable farmers have no access to their lands.

Chairman of the Couva/ Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, Henry Awong, visited the area yesterday.

“We have been calling on the Works Minister for many months to look into the Mayo Road landslide. It is one of the numerous landslides plaguing our region.”

Awong said he was told by Sinanan two weeks ago that he will do what is necessary to address the problem but, so far, very little has been done.

“We are calling on the minister to pay some attention to rural communities such as this one and others like Indian Trail Road, and Brasso Tamana Rd, which are laden with landslides.

Calls to Sinanan’s phone went unanswered.