Dear Editor,
I WOULD like to know what study was done to remove the pedestrian crossing at the Cotton Field, Essequibo junction. This pedestrian crossing was there for years. As the former mayor of the township of Anna Regina, I was asked by Sergeant Rishi Dass of the Anna Regina Police Station to donate one gallon of white paint to mark the pedestrian crossing in front of Shashi’s Pharmacy. Sergeant Dass saw that this area was in dire need of such a crossing because of the Anna Regina Multilateral School, Ministry of Education office, Guyana School of Agriculture, Cyril Potter College of Education, the Cotton Field Secondary School and others.

Lately, I saw that this pedestrian crossing was removed 50 rods further to the south. The school children and teachers are confused about which crossing to use, since the old one is still visible on the road. This is dangerous, because the children and the public are still using it to cross the road, while the new crossing is out of bounds and out of sight. When the school children, teachers and officers walk out of the Cotton Field compound they then use the Cotton Field Street, which leads from the compound to the public road and where they cross.

The previous pedestrian crossing in front Shashi’s Pharmacy was more convenient for the public because there are many supermarkets, snackettes and shop within the area where the school children will go to buy their stuff. No one is using the new pedestrian crossing and so it is seen as a waste of tax-payers’ money. In the past these signs were placed in front of schools by the traffic department to save lives. I don’t know what method is being used to identify the location and marking of the signs these days.
Also, in the past the police traffic department would involve the township to identify locations where such signs should be place, once it is within the township of Three Friends to Walton Hall and also to donate paint. I hope that good sense would prevail and the communities would be consulted in the future.

Regards
Mohamed Khan