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FM
Former Member

Queenstown residents suffer millions in losses

A house under water at Queenstown Village

A house under water at Queenstown Village

Flashfloods

 

– calling for compensation

 

BY INDRAWATTIE NATRAM

 

Residents living in Queenstown area Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) are counting losses as their lands are inundated with water. Many residents have lost kitchen gardens and poultry due to the excessive water. They are blaming the Region Two Administration for negligence and calling for compensation, stating that the flooding could have been avoided if the regional officers had acted on complaints made by residents earlier.

A poultry pen under water

A poultry pen under water

When Guyana Times visited the area early Wednesday morning residents were seen bailing water from their premises and removing their pigs, livestock, etc to higher ground.

According to spokesperson of the community Mentis Cromwell, the situation could have been avoided if the outfalls at La Union and Capoey were cleared. He said “rain or no rain” the area is experiencing high water in the canals and trenches due to poor drainage and irrigation, adding that the problem is compounded by nonfunctioning sluices and pumps.

Cromwell said that during the dry weather period he along with other residents made complaints about the situation to regional officials. After the complaints were made the administration mobilised a pump but despite the pump the water remained high as the outfalls need cleaning and digging.

A clogged trench in the area

A clogged trench in the area

“Residents feel that the drainage system is being sabotaged, I get to understand that the La Union pump is down. Why aren’t the officials having the interest of the people? My plants in the kitchen garden are under water, this is nonsense” Cromwell exclaimed.

 

Residents

counting losses in $$$

According to Eric John, another flood affected resident, this is the fourth time the area is flooded for 2015.

“We does get flooding in June/July, never in December; rain or no rain the water in the trenches rising; there need to be clearing of the outfalls” John fretted.

Several rice lands that have been prepared by farmers are under water. This will have a very negative effect on the crop as the seedlings are floating.

Residents said they are calling for full compensation for their losses as their livelihoods have been affected.

Clement Paul said his rice lands are under water and many of his livestock had died due to water in his yard. Like Paul, Elon Sample is also calling for compensation as over 20 of his ducks have died. Sample said:”The ducks cetchin cramp and dying; the chicken getting sick; I lost 20; this is not good at all. I invested in the business so I could get money for Christmas, now the water destroying everything” Sample bemoaned.

Another flood-affected resident Moris Walcott said the situation is like “Square peg in round hole”; noting that regional officials are aware of the nonfunctioning sluices and clogged outfalls but yet nothing is being done.

Walcott explained that the Region Two Administration had mobilised two pumps in the area, one for the Affiance area and the other at Capoey/Queenstown. Walcott said the pump at Queenstown is too small and as such it does not have the capacity to pump sufficient water:

“What they doing is pointless, that pump too small; we need a bigger pump to move the water off the land; the administration has a lot of incompetent staff.”

Meanwhile, Region Two Chairman Devanand Ramdatt who was asked for a comment on the situation, as residents claimed they had visited his office, said he reported all residents’ complaints via an email on 18 November, 2015 and the onus is now on the Regional Executive Officer Rupert Hopkinson to follow-up with engineers.

Ramdatt said Regional Vice Chairman Nandranie Coonjah, REO Hopkinson, and himself had visited the area recently and observed that numerous drainage trenches are in need of cleaning and desilting, various outfalls are silted up, excavators are dormant and need repairs.

Ramdatt claimed he also cautioned the REO that if necessary clearing and desilting are not done in a timely manner then several other villages along the Coast will experience flooding.

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http://www.stabroeknews.com/20...gt/05/25/queenstown/

May 25, 2014

Queenstown

Story and photos by Kenesha Fraser

Following emancipation, some white planters made quick money by selling the front lands of their estates to African labourers. On the Essequibo Coast, a thriving village of Africans developed and was named Queenstown in honour of Queen Victoria.

When Sunday Stabroek visited the area, we caught up with John Paul, caretaker of a church in the village. “I don’t really know much about this village,” he said, “because I didn’t live here for long, but the time I was here it was very good.”

The village of Queenstown, situated between Little Alliance and La Union is considered to be the largest community on the Essequibo Coast and the one with numerous historic buildings.

Winston Christiani, said that he was born and grew up in the village. “I have been living here all my life, but because of the work that I did, I moved around the country often. In times gone by, we didn’t have any paved streets. The roads were made of burnt earth or clay. Residents were given jobs when they were burning heaps.

“These trenches,” he said pointing to one, “were dug by men using shovels, and the mud from the trenches was then delivered to convenient places on the road. The mud was transported in trays on the heads of the men to various locations to build the roads.”

When asked where the residents got potable water, he said that most of the trenches had bridges across them rather than dams so the water flowed freely.

“In those times we also had a village council system and the councillors were elected by the people from the village. Those days were the days of colonisation so there was no political interference.”

Christiani added that there were special areas near the main trench that were linked to the lake and no animals were allowed to graze or roam the area. The water was then used for domestic purposes such as drinking, bathing, washing and cooking.

“A step led down to water so it was easy to access and the people from the village would all go fill up water with their buckets on donkey carts. I can also remember that there was a well that flowed throughout the day and it was a natural flow.”

There was no electricity in the village in the early years and Christiani said, “the rich people used to use gas lamps and in them days, we used to have cocoa tins so the poor people use to make lamps with them.”

Saturday nights were when everyone from the village did all their shopping. People walked around with ground provisions, vegetables, coconut biscuits (a delicacy in those days) and cassava bread to sell. “The weekends were special,” he said.
Now, in his spare time, Christiani who lives with his wife, daughter and grandchildren, enjoys rearing poultry and has a flourishing kitchen garden.

According to villagers, the young people who live in the area are gainfully employed as carpenters, masons, teachers, nurses or else are self-employed, and there is little crime in the village.

Tiffany Hubbard, a student of Guyana School of Agriculture, Essequibo Branch told Sunday Stabroek: “I’ve been living here my whole life and I love it here. I can say that this place is really, really nice. There is no major crime in the area and we all live together as one.”

A Postal Clerk for 13 years, Rhonda Alves, who lived in Queenstown all her life happily shared her experiences. “Growing up in this village was really fun and exciting for me. I especially enjoyed going to picnics and bathing in the black water trench. Since I was small, I can remember that some of the buildings that were there are still here today.”

The village of Queenstown now boasts a community centre, health centre, post office, village office, playfield, and a primary and nursery schools.

There are also Seventh Day Adventist, Anglican, Catholic, Brethren and Full Gospel churches, as well as a mandir and a mosque.

Veronica Stewart, a shopkeeper for four years, said that she most enjoyed playing with her friends during her childhood days growing up in Queenstown. “I really like living here since this is the place of my birth. All of my life I lived here and back in the days it was very nice. We had a big vat that we use to store water in. The vat was there since before I was born so that means that it was older than me.”

She said, however, that many people had migrated from the village.

The St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church and the church hall in Queenstown are historic buildings that were built in the 19th century and are still standing tall. Before the building


St Bartholomew’s Anglican Church Hall built in 1876
became a place of worship, St Bartholomew’s was a coffee logie.

The church hall was once the primary school but was later taken over by the church and was made a church hall.

Residents are fortunate to have potable water, electricity and a telephone service. Most persons dispose of their garbage by burning and there is no major drainage issue.

Secondary school children attend the Anna Regina Secondary School, Cotton Field Secondary School, Abrams Zuil Secondary School or the Johanna Cecilia Secondary School.


Kudos to Guyana Times for highlighting the problem of the residents,it appears this village drainage and irrigation was neglected by the past administration.

Django
Last edited by Django
Bibi Haniffa posted:

Like Mitwah lost his cut and paste job to somebody else or what???

Pay attention and figure why i paste the article.

yuji22 posted:

Stop Blaming the PPP.

It now almost a year and the PNC is doing NOTHING !

People voted for CHANGE and not EXCHANGE.

Stupidness again from May to current date is a year?

Django
Django posted:
Bibi Haniffa posted:

Like Mitwah lost his cut and paste job to somebody else or what???

Pay attention and figure why i paste the article.

yuji22 posted:

Stop Blaming the PPP.

It now almost a year and the PNC is doing NOTHING !

People voted for CHANGE and not EXCHANGE.

Stupidness again from May to current date is a year?

It is people like you who were silent as the PNC raped, murdered, killed, robbed and treated Indos as fourth class citizens and may I add, stole our votes and rigged for 28 years.

History is repeating itself. 

FM
Django posted:

Kudos to Guyana Times for highlighting the problem of the residents,it appears this village drainage and irrigation was neglected by the past administration.

This is the reason I asked.  Tell us when we can start holding the new administration accountable for the many failings in the country that you folks continue to blame on the PPP.  Is it 1 year, 5 years, 10 Years or should it be 27 years?

FM

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