A NUMBER of illegal businesses operating on the Puruni Landing in Mazaruni Mining District Three have been shut down by a team from the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) Mines Division.

Minister within the Ministry of Natural Resources, Simona Broomes said the exercise forms part of a wider operation to regularise mining areas like the Puruni Landing.
Connecting the Lower and Middle Mazaruni, Puruni Landing is a thriving business hub and while the GGMC grants yearly licences for business and residential purposes to persons in the area, many are operating without that critical piece of document while others have opted to sublet – a move that is illegal.

On Friday, officers from GGMC’s Mines Division moved on the illegal operators, closing their businesses with ranks of the Guyana Police Force on standby.
Edward Anthony Persaud, a resident of Bartica who operates a shop at the Puruni Landing, was among those affected. According to Persaud, the GGMC officers, without any notice moved in on several businesses, some owned by Brazilians, and barricaded their doors, using wooden materials. Persaud’s wife is Brazilian. The couple operates a Brazilian Beauty Salon and a Variety Store on the Puruni Landing.

According to him, those affected were immediately denied access to paid facilities to sleep and prepare meals. He pointed out that many of the persons affected usually pay between G$200,000 to G$250, 000 to rent the properties.
On Saturday, Persaud told Guyana Chronicle that he was not present at the time his wife informed him that their business was closed down by the GGMC officers because they illegally sublet the building. The Bartican had been operating the business for years.
Questioned whether he had received a licence to operate his business, Persaud said he made several attempts to regularise his business but was unsuccessful.

“I had checked with the GGMC officials at Puruni for a business permit to do business on the Puruni Landing but was told that it was only granted to the person who was granted permission to occupy a plot of land by the GGMC on the Puruni Landing and I could operate under that person’s business permission,” he said.

Unable to secure a business license, Persaud contended that he then moved to apply for a plot of land in the area but that too had proven to be difficult. “It has been that way for years… I decided to apply to GGMC for a plot of land on the Puruni Landing. I got a formal response indicating that at that time there were no available land space on the landing,” he recalled.

However, Minister Broomes ruled out the notion that the business operators at the Puruni Landing were never informed of the move to regularise the area.

REPEATEDLY WARNED
Stating that she, in her capacity as minister, visited the landing approximately nine times, Minister Broomes said the business operators were repeatedly warned by the Commission.
“The Commission would have written the shop owners there… I visited Puruni Landing since I took office just revisiting, talking, encouraging them to do the right thing,” Minister Broomes told Guyana Chronicle on Saturday.

Putting the issue into prospective, the Junior Natural Resources Minister explained that GGMC issues yearly business licence at a fee of G$10,000, and an additional $1,000 to those desirous of providing temporary accommodation to miners.
She said that instead of adhering to the laws and regulations governing the mining industry, holders of these licences would construct huge buildings and sublet to a number of persons at a time.

There have been cases in which two persons have business licence for a single location, and sublet to a number of persons. These rental fees range in the hundreds of thousands, and according to Minister Broomes, in some cases one million dollars.
“GGMC grants business licences, those licences do not give you permission to sublet. The officers wrote all the persons who were not licensed owners,” she emphasised.
Many of the illegal businesses fail to adhere to environmental best practices, the Junior Natural Resources Minister posited while adding that there are also concerns about human trafficking occurring within the area.

The minister noted that when the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Government took office, the mining sector was plagued with illegal activities and the government has been cleaning up the situation.
Amid allegations that the Brazilians were targeted, Minister Broomes made reference to a recent decision by the Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, to grant temporary amnesty to illegal foreign national miners so that they can regularise their status in Guyana, as she set the record straight.

“That is not true… if we are offering them amnesty, why would we target the Brazilians. It is misleading,” she stated. In late February, miners were told to visit the Ministry of Citizenship with their passport and apply for an extension of stay.
The ministry offered the temporary amnesty based on representation made by Minister Broomes.

In recent times, Minister Broomes visited the Puruni Landing with the Commissioner of the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission (GLSC), Trevor Benn who had encouraged operators to visit the GLSC’s Bartica Office to regularise their status.