20 loads of waste removed from Sando market

OVER 20 loads of bulk waste was cleared from the central market at Mucurapo Street, San Fernando, as the city undertook a clean-up exercise on Wednesday amid fears that a vendor would have been exposed to a covid19 patient who died.

Sanitation foreman at the San Fernando City Corporation (SFCC) Gerard Ramharack said both the Mucurapo Street and Marabella markets were closed for general cleaning and sanitising on Wednesday.

Ramharack said unwanted stalls, broken stalls, rotting stalls were all demolished and removed from inside the central market.

"We removed over 20 loads of bulk waste," he said.

A backhoe was brought in to move the bulk waste to the road where it was loaded into trucks and taken to the dumps.

He said the cleaning exercise included, “a general washing, baiting (for rats) and deodorising.”

Closure of the market was met with opposition from vendors who called on mayor Junia Regrello to rescind the decision. Vendors said the decision was not done in consultation with them.

While they acknowledged the dire situation the country and the world faced with the covid19 pandemic, they suggested the market could have been cleaned on Good Friday, a public holiday, instead.

Regrello, however defended the city’s decision to clean both markets to preserve human lives. He said the vendors had four other days for sales and the period of adjustment was just for a short while until the pandemic ended.

He told Newsday the recommendation to close and clean was made after speculation that someone at the market might have had an association with a patient who died from the covid19 virus.

He said an investigation was done looking at the risk posed, and for the safety of both vendors and customers a decision was made by the administration and he did not challenge it.

Regrello also spoke about incurring additional cost to remove goods daily as it would no longer be permissible to store it overnight in stalls. Vendors were advised to stock goods that would be sufficient only for a day’s sale. He said dry goods, fruits and vegetables left at the market stalls attracts rats and rodents.

“It is a rat magnet. The place is rat infested. When vendors leave their goods overnight, covered with a tarpaulin, rats run through the goods.

"People have no idea what they are buying when they go to the market.”

He said the public health inspectors had checked the markets and the new arrangements were designed to better manage the market and improve public health.

Regrello urged vendors and shoppers to wear their masks at the markets and use the available hand-washing facilities.