Minister: Flooding concerns being addressed

AGRICULTURE, Land and Fisheries Minister Clarence Rambharat said concerns raised by farmers about their crops being affected by flooding are being addressed.

Speaking with Newsday at an event held by Feed the Nation TT in Debe on Sunday, Rambharat said, "Once there is rain, farmers in low lying areas will be affected. It rained during the week."

He added, "We had reports in Barrackpore and all those low-lying areas. There are farmers who are never going to be affected. There are farmers who may be affected depending on how heavy the rainfal." Rambharat said there is a process whereby farmers can make claims to the ministry in order to access assistance.

He also noted recent attempts by a former politician to allege that farmers in the Aranjuez area were being neglected. "North and South Aranjuez has actually benefitted from a lot of work of the Ministry of Works and Transport."

Rambharat said, "We have some additional work to do still,to clear some of the channels that goes from the northern side to the southern side under the (Churchill Roosevelt) highway."

He added, "We dealt with the channels coming to the highway and the channels over the highway."