Vehicles parked alongside the road.
October 17,2017
Officials from the Number 52- 74 Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) were yesterday scrambling to fill a pothole on the No. 59 Village Public Road, Corentyne which was linked to a horrific crash on Sunday that claimed five lives.
The pothole developed months ago but no firm action was taken, raising concerns about the performance of the NDC – particularly in light of last year’s local government elections – and whether it should have had the required resources at its disposal.
On Sunday, motor car PPP 3394 was travelling east when it fell into the pothole. The car spun and toppled several times, then collided with a paddy truck, GZ 2763 which was travelling in the opposite direction.
Those who died in the crash are Dhanpaul Kishandayal, 37, of Lot 2 `D’ First Street, Bel Air, Georgetown; Sabita Manglani, Proprietress/Manager at Sabita Immigration Services at Maraj Building on Charlotte Street, her sons Emmanuel Manglani, 18, and Ethan Ramjeet, 5, and her secretary Reshma Seeram, 28, of Leonora.
Discharge
The owner of the truck, Kawal Singh, 53, said that he has owned it for a number of years now. He said that his son, Budhram Singh, 30, who was the driver, picked up a rice farmer’s paddy at the Number 58 Village, Corentyne and was heading to discharge at the Nand Persaud Mill at Number 36 Village, Corentyne. Budhram was on the Number 59 Village public road when the accident occurred.
Stabroek News was also told yesterday that on Sunday two grain carts were parked on the northern side of the public road directly next to the pothole. A source stated, that “…if the grain carts weren’t there maybe the driver would have swerved into the drain on the left side instead of the truck on the right side”.
According to residents of the area, the grain carts were removed by the owner immediately after the accident. Residents yesterday said that carts would usually be parked in that area.
Gobin Harbhajan, Representative of the Prime Minister’s Office in Region Six yesterday lamented that for several years now tractors, trailers, draglines, water pumps, combines, grain carts and other types of agricultural machinery would be parked along the public road by their owners.
He said, “I have written extensively on the wilful obstruction caused by citizens, especially farmers, along the Corentyne road”, adding that, “these have fallen on deaf ears”. He said that he had made several complaints to various authorities when the PPP/C was in Government, and had since taken it up with “my own government agencies”. However, according to Harbhajan, “I’m getting excuses, that it doesn’t fall under their ministry, and I’ve been pushed around from one end to the next from Ministry of Communities, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure and the Ministry of Public Security”.
Harbhajan stated that the situation with parked vehicles along the road is getting out of control. He said that the traffic people tend to shift the blame to the NDCs and then they in turn assign the blame to the ministries. He questioned when the ”blame game” will end.
He also pointed to the use of the road by rice farmers to dry paddy. This he said was something that also needs to be looked at. He explained that in the past rice farmers used to spread their paddy on the pavement and on a small portion of the road. However, with rice farmers occupying a section of the road daily now, he said, “This makes it difficult and risky for vehicles, which can collide with them. Parents taking their children to school on bicycles and on foot have to carefully navigate their courses”.
According to Harbhajan, there is a seed paddy facility located at Number 56 Village, Corentyne which dries paddy for a “small fee”. He is urging rice farmers to make use of this facility.
