SHAL­IZA HAS­SANALI

Chair­man of the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion­er (NCC) Col­in Lu­cas in­tends to write act­ing Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Stephen Williams af­ter the po­lice pre­vent­ed two large bands from go­ing to the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah for Tues­day’s Pa­rade of the Bands.

How­ev­er, Gold Com­man­der for this year’s Car­ni­val DCP De­o­dat Du­lalchan said he could not bend the rules for Lu­cas at the 11th hour of Car­ni­val, stat­ing that the move would have been dan­ger­ous.

Du­lalchan said weeks ago the NCC and T&T Po­lice Ser­vice set­tled for six routes for the bands.

On Car­ni­val Thurs­day, Du­lalchan said he re­ceived a call from Lu­cas who asked if Tribe can go Park Street “against the grain of the route” to flow on­to Char­lotte Street, which he could not sanc­tion.

Du­lalchan said he told Lu­cas all sys­tems had been put in place for the routes which could not be changed.

“You have to be care­ful that you have so many bands and you want to bend the rules. That is dan­ger­ous,” Du­lalchan said, stat­ing that if he had giv­en lee­way to one or two bands, he would have had to do the same for all.

Lu­cas said the plan was for a few of So­cadrome’s bands to pa­rade on the Sa­van­nah’s stage on Tues­day, while bands that crossed the big stage would have pa­rad­ed So­cadrome’s stage at the Jean Pierre Com­plex.

An­gered by the turn of events, Lu­cas said he in­tend­ed to write Williams on the mat­ter.