Tackle the vagrancy problem

THE EDITOR: I am still awaiting something positive to be done concerning the vagrancy problem in our nation's capital. Where is the relevant government minister or state authorities responsible for handling this issue?

We are into the Christmas season and it is the same as last year and years gone by. Vagrants on the sidewalk, digging in the garbage bins. And when questions are asked, we get empty promises, year after year.

We see these people eating out of garbage bins, drinking and bathing from drains and the pavement is their bedroom. Pedestrians risk being mowed down by speeding PH taxis when they choose to walk on the road rather than on the pavement because it is smeared with human excrement.

When you visit Port of Spain, like I did recently, you have to be very careful to dodge outstretched limbs from prone, sleeping bodies on the pavement. You had better pray not to come across a vagrant caught up in a dose of madness, for you and your mother could get a solid cussing.

Imagine visitors from other countries, fresh off the cruise ship, being greeted by these street-dwellers. God forbid any tourist being attacked by these vagrants. What a story they would have to tell about their visit to Trinidad! The proliferation of vagrants speak volumes for how we treat with the unfortunates in society.

At the end of the day, the government is responsible for dealing with the vagrancy problem. The time for talk and empty promises has ended. Action is what is required. There is a lot of land still available for shelters to be built where these people can not only be housed but also rehabilitated in a decent manner.

Any money spent in dealing with vagrancy, would be money well spent. Port of Spain, as our nation's capital, has an image to uphold and that image should not be of human beings sleeping on the pavement, using the bathroom in the drain or creating a potential danger to pedestrians and drivers.

ARNOLD GOPEESINGH

San Juan