La Lune villagers protest over bad roads

Accusing the past and the current governments of neglect, residents of La Lune Village in Moruga on Monday burnt debris and blocked the main road to protest its deplorable state.

They said they were fed up and demanded that Moruga/Tableland MP Michelle Benjamin and the Government have drains built and the bad roads fixed.

From 4.30 am, scores of people began blocking La Lune Road at different points. The road runs from Gran Chemin Village to Marac Village.

Messiah Baptiste, 65, said the Government had neglected the road for about ten years.

"The Works and Transport Minister and the Government, by extension, have neglected the people of La Lune/ Marac. This is an agricultural community, and we do not have road access to agriculture," Baptiste said. "So the Government has failed us occasionally and time and time again, causing us to take this action. The condition here is a question of total neglect."

He believed that because the community is part of an opposition constituency, the Government is "suffering" the people for it.

Baptiste added, "There is a landslip further up the road threatening to cut off the whole road.

"This protest is only the beginning. We are peaceful, but very serious. We will continue until something is done."

Another villager, Laureto Lawrence Miguel, 73, said the lack of drainage is making the road deteriorate.

Speaking on behalf of the La Lune Empowerment Group, he said: "It is as though the area does not have a representative. We are our own representatives right now."

He said drivers must constantly pay to repair their cars.

"If a taxi driver makes $100 per day, he has to spend $110 to fix the car."

The MP met the angry residents, including Tasha Wilkinson, who vented loudly. Benjamin told them about the challenges she faces from the Government to get help for her constituents.

"Do better than that! Do something for Moruga people. If you get the materials here, we would spread it and fix the road," Wilkinson said.

She was highly critical of Benjamin, adding that La Lune residents wanted their "own MP."

Speaking to Newsday, Benjamin said she got a call about 5 am on Monday about the protest.

"I understand their frustration, and rightfully so. They could vent and I would listen.

"But the issues go back to the Government.

"This is not a problem today. The road has been bad for many years," she said. "Here, there are at least three landslips with the capacity to cut off the community, and the Government is not responding. As the MP, I raised the concerns in the Parliament and wrote letters, and the ministers are not responding."

She believes the Government is victimising the entire country and not just Moruga/Tableland.

"That is the problem. They are not hearing the cries of the people. In the Moruga community, we have 70-plus landslips. As it stands, 15 are critical. We have massive landslips along the Moruga Main Road. There are about 20 people on the verge of losing their homes," Benjamin said.

"There is a massive landslip along the Naparima/Mayaro Road that could cut off Rio Claro and Mayaro. One shower of rain, and that road is gone. There are landslips in Robert Village."

She said she would continue lobbying for the betterment of her constituents.