Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

Drug couri­ers and users are us­ing an aban­doned HDC apart­ment build­ing in San Fer­nan­do as a refuge be­cause the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion is yet to de­mol­ish the struc­ture. The is­sue was raised yes­ter­day by coun­cil­lor for Pleas­antville, Robert Par­ris, as he spoke at the cor­po­ra­tion's month­ly statu­to­ry meet­ing at City Hall. Par­ris com­plained that it has been months since fire gut­ted Build­ing 17, and al­though the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion vowed to de­mol­ish the struc­ture, it re­mains stand­ing. "While I am grate­ful for the as­sis­tance giv­en by the HDC in the re­lo­ca­tion and so­cial help of the af­fect­ed ten­ants, I am now aware that three so­cial­ly dis­placed peo­ple are now liv­ing in the build­ing," Par­ris said. He al­so said he had tried to call the HDC but could not be giv­en a de­fin­i­tive an­swer as to why the build­ing is still stand­ing. "It is both­er­some to me that at this time the build­ing is still there and I want to call on the me­dia and the Gov­ern­ment to help the so­cial­ly dis­placed peo­ple who still live there," Par­ris said.

How­ev­er, when a news team from the T&T Guardian vis­it­ed Build­ing 17 yes­ter­day, it was not oc­cu­pied. Gal­va­nized sheets bar­ri­cad­ed the doors of the up­per floors. These were in­tact from the sec­ond floor. How­ev­er, at ground floor lev­el part of the sheet­ing had been re­moved. Cig­a­rette butts and oth­er garbage were strewn about the apart­ments. One of the rooms was van­dalised and the walls de­faced with graf­fi­ti which read: "Gaza Strip. Fire Bun Dem." Res­i­dents of the area said the build­ing was of­ten fre­quent­ed by sus­pi­cious look­ing char­ac­ters. One res­i­dent said the build­ing was an eye­sore and haz­ard and should be de­mol­ished as soon as pos­si­ble. Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal could not be reached for com­ment yes­ter­day. HDC's Man­ag­ing Di­rec­tor Jear­lean John said the HDC was get­ting ex­pert opin­ion on the is­sue.