Severe hardship for pensioners

THE EDITOR: A pensioner travelling in a taxi from Mundo Nuevo to Arima has to pay $18, while the maxi taxi fare is $15. The pensioner then takes a maxi to Tunapuna to visit the Social Welfare and Family Services office.

This is the route for all pensioners from the village that also suffers from bad road conditions and the high cost of food items, among other things.

Neighbouring villages along the route to Arima endure a similar fate, having to pay $9 from Talparo while from Brazil it’s $7, but if the passenger requests a drop off the route the fare is $10.

It is a similar situation for pensioners from villages like San Rafael, Arena and La Horquetta, who must fork out $7 to reach Arima and then head down to Tunapuna via maxi taxi at $7.

The taxis plying the Carapo route charge $7 but the fares vary along the route. For example, if a pensioner lives on O’Meara Road he pays $1 less but to go off-route the passenger pays $1 more.

Malabar residents are faced with paying $5 but once a request is made to go off-route the fare increases.

From Arima north, covering the areas Mt Pleasant, Bye Pass and Calvary, the fare is $5 while Pinto varies between $6 and $7, depending on the final destination, including Santa Rosa Heights.

I must include Heights of Aripo, Brasso Seco and Morne La Croix because pensioners travel by “PH” taxi at a cost of $20 per trip to reach Arima and then travel to Tunapuna.

What is also heartbreaking is that a simple request to obtain a form for cheques to go straight to the bank poses a very serious problem. Pensioners have to travel all the way to Tunapuna to get the form.

And there are occasions when pensioners are summoned to the Tunapuna office just to fix a date on a document.

This is the gruesome reality that pensioners from Arima and environs endure because there is no Social Welfare and Family Services office in Arima.

According to Arima Mayor Cagney Casimire, “Arima is a link to many communities from Sangre Grande in the East to Blanchisseuse in the North, to Muendo Nuevo in the South and Port of Spain in the West.”

He made a most salient point: “We are a transit hub that connects communities and people, with as many as 17 taxi stands transporting thousands of people each day. We act as a centre of human activities for many communities.”

Given that fact from the mayor, no government should turn a blind eye to reasonable demands from the people and their elected representatives to provide the necessary facilities to serve all and sundry instead of closing down offices.

I am fully aware that our Members of Parliament along with the Arima Corporation have made several efforts for the return of an office for pensioners and other social services in Arima because they encounter complains from their constituents on a daily basis.

What is worse is that very often pensioners sometimes spend four to six hours to get an officer to attend to them at the Tunapuna office.

The absence of a Social Welfare and Family Services office in Arima is only one blatant act of neglect by the Government since there are other essential offices that are needed in the borough to ease the hardship endured by citizens.

If the Government does not move with alacrity to provide the much needed office in Arima, then “Family Services” does not deserve to be part of the ministry’s portfolio.

ASHTON FORD

former mayor

and MP, Arima