IMAGINE a pedestrian striding confidently along the concrete walkway that covers the deep drain on the eastern carriageway of the McDoom public road, East Bank Demerara, just south of the gas station. Then without warning, she encounters a wide gap in the cover over the drain and drops some 4’ down into the smelly, garbage strewn drain.

At least two of the concrete panels are missing, leaving the drain of a depth of about 4’ and width about 3’6” uncovered. Additionally, there are other broken panels on the verge of disintegrating,

posing serious danger to pedestrians, particularly school children and senior citizens traversing that route at nights.
The panels have been missing since the latter part of last year. They were removed, reportedly by City Council workers who had a clean-up campaign in the area, and have since disappeared without a trace.
A few months ago, a resident of McDoom happened to be walking home from a wake nearby and stepped off one of the concrete panels and ended up at least four feet below in the drain that had at least 18” of water.

She suffered a broken leg and abrasions to other parts of the body, and had to be rushed to hospital. She has been laid up and unable to work for several months.
Residents who have children traversing that route on their way to school are worried that something tragic may happen, and contend that it is even more perilous on nights where there is blackout. (Shirley Thomas)