PERSONS who have been purchasing stalls from vendors in Parika Marketing Centre run the risk of having them repossessed by the Marketing Committee and this may happen sooner than later, Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Chairman, Mr. Parmanand Samlal has warned.
In addition, he said the Committee, the legal custodian of the business place, has pointed out that persons making such purchases have absolutely no recourse to that entity for assistance to be reimbursed.

“What they would have done is to enter into an illegal transaction and must suffer the consequences because the spots allocated the vendors to ply their trade are the property of the Government and not those stallholders,” Samlal said.

He asked: “How could they sell what does not belong to them?”

According to him, the only things the allottees are authorised to dispose of are their movable property, which, in this case, would be the wood they used to build the stalls.

Samlal stated, categorically, that when it comes to the land on which a stall is constructed, it belongs to the Government and cannot be sold by any vendor.

“For this reason, I find it difficult to understand how a person could pay $1M for a stall five feet by seven feet when, in fact, all the sale would entitle him to is the materials utilised for the construction,” the NDC Chairman maintained.

He went on: “The Council wishes to let them know, in no uncertain terms, that what they are doing is wrong. We will not support them and, whenever they buy, they buy at their own risk.”

Samlal said, on Monday, the Committee met with the parties concerned and communicated the information to them.

He said, following a previous meeting with the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) Chairman, Mr. Julius Faerber, it was made clear that, vendors and purchasers will have to abide by whatever decisions are taken by that overarching body.

Both the RDC and the NDC were informed that one vendor paid $1M each for two five feet by seven feet stalls he bought from two women in Parika Market and that the purchaser had previously purchased 19 other stalls there.

Asked how soon the stalls may be repossessed, Samlal replied: “Very soon and that could be next week. It depends on the Marketing Committee.”