…as they protest health hazard created by rice mill
Residents of Cane Grove, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, who for over 10 years have been suffering a major health and environmental problem caused by the operation of a rice mill within their residential community, yesterday mounted a picketing exercise on Brickdam, outside the Ministry of Health, pressing demands for the closure of the mill. In the absence of that, the least they would like to see happen is for changes to be made in relation to having equipment installed at the mill which would effectively stop the environmental pollution.
The mill, owned by Mr. Fayuz Hack, and built within a residential community, residents claim, exposes them to a most disgusting and hazardous dust and noise nuisance whenever the mill is in operation.
They are contending that enough is enough, since despite representation made at varying levels to have the matter resolved, the mill continues to function in the same old way.  By his continued operations, they claim, the miller continues to show callousness and gross disregard for the residents whose health and lives are at stake.   They have vowed to have the matter taken to Parliament, and if need be, to the Courts.
Residents claim that over the ten-year period, they have complained ad nauseam to the relevant authorities,  including former Minister of Agriculture, Satyadeow Sawh; former Science and Environmental  advisor to the president, Mr. Navin Chandarpal and eventually, President Bharrat Jagdeo, who personally intervened on their behalf in 2002.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, accompanied by the media, in 2002, visited the  community of Cane Grove where he inspected the operations of the rice mill, had discussions with both management and the residents of the community, and advised the owners of the rice milling concerned to take corrective action.  However, to date, the problem persists, and instead of acting on instructions given by the president, management is now moving to expand operations, without due regard to the health and safety of the hundreds of residents of the community.
Health-related problems they suffer include breathing complications, scalp and skin rashes, eye diseases – particularly among children,  dust in their clothing which causes itching, as well as in their food and drinking water.  The water conservancy which runs through the village is, for the most part, covered with  effluent from the paddy.  Additionally, they are subjected to a noise nuisance created when the mill is being operated, constituting another serious health hazard.
“Is ten years now, and we ah eat and drink wid this dust; sleep wid this dust, wear wid this dus – everything we do wid this dust,” one man on the picket line said with disgust.
And  housewives complain that the job of  house cleaning has become rather burdensome over the years, given the amount of dust literally on every surface, and in every crack and crevice in and around the home. 
When President Jagdeo visited the mill  in the early 2000s he advised the rice miller to put systems in place to trap the dust which was literally ‘all over’ the community, and even in the water conservancy; now, almost ten years later the problem has intensified.  More recently, the matter was taken up with the People’s Progressive Party’s Presidential candidate, Mr. Donald Ramotar, with the hope that some change could be effected.
Residents recalled having, out of frustration, filed proceedings in the court against Hack through Attorney-at-Law and PPP Parliamentarian, Anil Nandlall.  However, Mr. Ramjattan  yesterday said that  repeated attempts to find out from him whether  headway has been made in the case have been futile.
Against this backdrop, the affected residents of  Cane Grove, together with Mr. Ramjattan and others, yesterday held the picketing exercise outside the Ministry of Health.  There again, they have been ignored, they claim, since  no one from the Ministry of Health came outside to address their health-related concerns.
Attorney- at-Law, Kemraj Ramjattan, who is also the AFC’s presidential candidate,  has assured the aggrieved residents that he will prepare a petition to be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and also to take the matter up at the level of  Parliament.  “Further, we are going to bring a Court order so we can bring what is called ‘contempt proceedings’ against Mr. Fayuz  Hack,” Ramjattan said.  
He added that if Mr. Nandalall does not produce the files within another two to three weeks, they can bring contempt proceedings.                                                                          
Meanwhile, Ramjattan disclosed that Hack never got permission from the Local Authority, nor the EPA. He recalled that when the miller put up the mill, he promised to install facilities to ensure that there would be no dust pollution.   That has not happened, even though the Courts had advised the miller to bring in the necessary equipment to ensure that the dust could be vacuumed into a bin for later disposal at some safe place.
Residents are worried that, with plans afoot for the miller to set up two bigger driers at the mill, their woes would be doubled and tripled.