THE National Commission on Law and Order (NCLO) is appalled at the rapid rate at which encumbrances continue to become a fixture on Government reserves, access and public roads. Public Works Minister Robeson Benn made this known, Monday evening, during a live call-in radio programme on the National Communications Network (NCN).
He said the obstacles can be seen almost everywhere and are becoming eyesores. Among the items and activities that contribute to the unsightly scene both in the city and its environs are sand, mixing of cement, aggregates on the road, vending stands, shops, builders’ waste, garbage, old vehicles, machine shops, double parking and liming spots.
Other members on the discussion panel were Ramesh Sugrim, Taajnauth Jadunauth and Mark Bender, all from the NCLO.
They, while acknowledging that some of the ongoing occurrences along the reserves and roadways are economic activities and income earners for some persons, said the actions remain unlawful and put, at risk, the lives of all road users, including the very persons involved in carrying them out.
Minister Benn, whose ministry has responsibility for ensuring, that squatting and occupying Government reserves and public roads do not occur, assured that it will be doing its part to fulfil its mandate.
He said: “Certainly we will have to try to redouble our efforts in this area, step up our programmes in this new year. The Ministry, perhaps, and myself have gotten an envy of a reputation in respect to this matter but, certainly, as was said, its anarchic, it is lawless, it possesses a tremendous ongoing risk to life and limb and costs heavily. There are hidden costs that you do not see that are tremendous.”
Callers to the programme seized every opportunity to question the minister on what the government plans to do about certain issues affecting them while also updating him on instances of where encumbering is evident.

NOISE NUISANCE
The issue of nose nuisance was among those raised. Others were the mud that litters the roadways left by tractors coming out of the fields in rice cultivating areas, bad roads and no street lights in Mocha/Arcadia, the absence of any street lights and sidewalks along Woolford Avenue in Georgetown, squatting on the reserve at Good Hope West, on East Coast Demerara, and blocked canals in some West Bank Demerara locations.
Jadunauth, addressing the noise nuisances, suggested that Commanders of Police Divisions have responsibility to make sure their areas of command are engaged in activities that are environmentally friendly.
He mentioned the decision of a former ‘C’ Division Commander to stop the nightly ‘hang-outs’ on sections of the East Coast roadway which had grown to a proportion that it was almost impossible for vehicles to pass those areas.
The NCLO maintains that encumbrances not only violate the law of the land but contributes to traffic congestion, noting that those along the road shoulders and pavements especially, force pedestrians to utilise the roads, thus interfering with the sightline and making it difficult for traffic to move along.
Benn said some of the breaches are committed mostly during weekends when it is perceived that the authorities are less vigilant. He said persons do not visit the Ministry to seek permission before conducting activities or erecting structures along the areas they wish to conduct their activities.
“There is the active and continuous building of permanent structures on the roadways and accessing the roadways, the public roads without the permission of the Chief Works Officer of the Ministry of Public Works,” he lamented.
He admitted that his ministry is responsible to assure that the local authorities and the police are suppose to react, once they see these things happening in the areas they govern and operate.
According to Benn, the laws of the land provide for the seizure, auctioning and or paying of storage fees for material and items that encumber the roadways and reserves.
While the law clearly spells out the course of action to be taken against those found in breach, one of the NCLO members pointed out that, when attempts are made to have these persons penalised and or removed, there is, usually, a “big political cry” followed by the push to have them compensated.
In 2010, the Ministry of Public Works embarked on a campaign to remove all obstructions on government reserves across the country and it saw mixed reactions by many who felt that it was to deprive persons of livelihoods and target a specific section of the society.
The Ministry had given many reasons for the move to clear the areas, among them, the plans to expand roadways, removing people from harm’s way and gaining access to several main canals that were impossible to clear because of structures on the reserves that lead to those waterways.
At present, there is massive expansion along several roadways across the country with sections of the East Bank and East Coast Demerara being converted into four-lane highways, after the drive in 2010.