KEVON FELMINE

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

Rio Claro res­i­dents bar­ri­cad­ed ma­jor ac­cess roads yes­ter­day in protest of di­lap­i­dat­ed roads and aus­tere mea­sures in the 2018 na­tion­al bud­get, dis­rupt­ing com­mer­cial and in­dus­tri­al ac­tiv­i­ties in South East Trinidad.

Vil­lagers used tree trunks and used tyres to block the Na­pari­ma/Ma­yaro Road in Agos­ti­ni, Navet and along the Cu­napo South­ern Main Road.

Pro­tes­tors set their bar­ri­cades ablaze, fill­ing the com­mu­ni­ty with thick black smoke.

The pro­tes­tors, some of whom held up plac­ards that de­scribed the rul­ing Peo­ple's Na­tion­al Move­ment as fail­ures, called for a change of gov­ern­ment and the re­turn of for­mer prime min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to pow­er.

Chair­man of the Ma­yaro/Rio Claro Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion Glenn Ram said that from what he learned, the protest was over the bud­get and the state of the roads.

A ma­jor land­slip along the Na­pari­ma/ Ma­yaro Road, Agos­ti­ni was one of the ma­jor high­lights of the protest.

Ram said he vis­it­ed the area along with Works and Trans­port Min­is­ter Ro­han Sinanan ear­li­er this year and was giv­en a promise that it would be re­paired soon. With the con­stant and heavy rain­fall, he fears that the road might wash away soon.

"If the rain con­tin­ues like how it has been falling re­cent­ly, the road will be im­pass­able and pub­lic trans­port, in­clud­ing the bus­es, will not be able to pass. Of­fi­cials from Min­istry vis­it­ed Agos­ti­ni but they have done noth­ing. Noth­ing is hap­pen­ing with this high­way they want to build a high­way to San­gre Grande.

"The Na­pari­ma/Ma­yaro Road is in a de­plorable con­di­tion and it is the main link from Rio Claro to San­gre Grande. Al­so, a lot of peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ties protest­ed against mea­sures in the bud­get, es­pe­cial­ly the in­crease in gas and diesel fu­el. Peo­ple in these ar­eas de­pend on a lot on pub­lic trans­porta­tion. There will be a rip­ple ef­fect and they will not be able to af­ford to go to work or send their chil­dren to school," Ram said.

How­ev­er, coun­cil­lor for Ma­yaro/Guayagua­yare Ky­ron James said one of his con­stituents was in tears this morn­ing when she at­tempt­ed to at­tend a clin­ic for dial­y­sis.

She was able to pass through San­gre Grande af­ter the road was cleared.

James be­lieves that the protest was po­lit­i­cal­ly mo­ti­vat­ed. He said that while cit­i­zens have the right to let their voic­es be heard, they should protest legal­ly.