Heavily clogged trenches bordering both sides of the roadway and passing through the Parika-Mora neighbourhood have recently been cleared, bringing relief to hundreds of households.

This massive desilting exercise has been undertaken not by the Parika Neighbourood Development Council (NDC), but through grass-roots community intervention and with the blessings and cooperation of the Regional Executive Officer of Region No. 3, Dennis Jaikarran, together with Regional Social Cohesion Officer, Ms. Alshazie Ramlakan and a handful of private residents.

For years, the trenches have been overgrown by trees, shrubs and other forms of obstruction, and repeated calls on the NDC to address this debacle have fallen on deaf ears, sources say.
The 16-member Parika NDC is comprised of 12 Opposition representatives and four APNU representatives.

Frightening
The problem which faced residents of the neighbourhood bordered by the Parika Koker at one end and Hobo at the other, was that the trenches were badly clogged up and whenever there was heavy rainfall the banks overflowed, resulting in water accumulation on the roads and inundation of livestock and vegetable gardens. And very often, deadly reptiles were spotted in residents’ yards. The most recent incident was recently where an elderly woman at Hobo discovered a snake snug in her bed one rainy night.
This frightening situation caused panic in the community and again the NDC was approached by the counsellors with a view to having the trenches cleared, but they said that funds were not available to undertake the dredging.

Networking
When it became clear to the minority group of councillors that the majority of the NDC seemed only interested in working within their own time frame and on their own terms, the out-numbered decided that it was time to come up with a ‘Plan B’.
It was resilience, cooperation and the will to succeed on the part of a handful of committed people – with the development of the neighbourhood in mind that formed the driving force behind getting the work done.

A private resident of Mora, Romeo Fanfair, with a wealth of experience in dredging, revetment and drainage and irrigation, who worked in the employ of BK Intenational for about 18 years, came up with a plan that would see the dredging of the trenches at minimal cost to government.
Fanfair approached the Regional Social Cohesion Officer, Ms. Alshazie Ramlakan who is also a RDC Councillor and put forward a proposal on the way forward. The solution was to seek the assistance of the Regional Administration in making two hymacs, fuel and two machine operators available to undertake the dredging. At the same time, he (Fanfair) undertook to voluntarily oversee and give guidance for the works being executed on a daily basis, assisted by Councillor Leon Moses.

Ramlakan in turn took it up with Overseer Ganesh Maipaul, explaining the urgency of the situation and asked what he thought about the plan. Maipaul took a team of officers from the Vreed-en-Hoop Office to inspect and do a feasibility survey, then reported to the Regional Executive Officer, Mr. Dennis Ramcharran.

RDC to the rescue
The REO, after studying the proposal, agreed to provide the necessary resources. That being done, work commenced early March and much was accomplished within a few weeks. By the end of March, ten communities within the neighbourhood had been dredged, bringing relief to residents who were high in praise for the Regional Administration and the team of grass-root minded volunteers for a great job done.

Ten communities are now benefitting from this initiative, namely: Parika Koker; Hyde Park, Look Out, Naamryck, Salem Mora, Bartain Stein, Roden Rust, Unity and Hobo, literally representing the triumph of good over evil.
Phase I of the project which saved the Council millions of dollars in the absence of having to pay private contractors huge sums of money, entailed digging and clearing trenches in those ten communities and that has been completed. Similar activities are being undertaken from Mora to Sparta.

Meanwhile, Phase II entails collecting the overburden (trash from the trenches) and removing it from the shoulders of the road, to prevent it getting back into the trenches whenever it rains.
The Opposition-majority NDC was asked to take on this responsibility, but to date they have not done so and the overburden remains at the roadside, likely to get back into the trenches whenever it rains, as observed by the Sunday Chronicle on a recent visit to the neighbourhood.