– poses hazard for Guyana Fire Service

THE Mayor and City Council (M&CC) has been making stringent continued efforts to have vendors and businesses take responsibility for cleaning the immediate surroundings where they dwell, on a daily basis.

But it appears that the scourge of irresponsible dumping of huge piles of garbage around the city is again raising its ugly head.

Recent complaints have been levelled against the wholesale and retail vendors who conduct business in the vicinity of the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and the old Georgetown Ferry Stelling on Monday nights.

The vendors are accused of selling and leaving the area in an unsightly state even though there are skip bins placed strategically in the vicinity where the odd and ends comprising of rotting fruits and vegetables and discarded cardboard boxes and other storage receptacles can be thrown.

Commuters using the Route 31, 32 and 42 minibuses to either get to work or conduct personal business, have complained to this publication of having not only having to see the unsightly heaps early in the morning but, also endure the stench.

According to Marilyn Lynch, a public servant who commutes from Diamond on the East Bank of Demerara daily, “it very disgusting to see how these people (vendors) generally have no regard for other people. They sell and just leave the stuff around, the other day I fell and injured myself having stepped on a rotten banana skin. At least they can clean up after they are finished selling and throw the stuff in the bins.”

Donna Singh, a resident of Ocean View, West Coast, Demerara, said she wished she could have avoided the area, but it is where she has to disembark, or access transportation to and from home. She is of the view that the City Council, in addition to collecting fees from the vendors for selling, should arrest the errant ones and make them pay a hefty fine. “Something has to be done, let their pocket feel the squeeze!” she exclaimed.

Cecile Stoute, on vacation from overseas, in an invited comment remarked, “I think the city council officials need to be more vigilant and stern with the vendors conducting business here, and even the regular citizens who are also guilty of littering. Why can’t they [vendors] cleanup after they’re finish selling. I remember being here a couple of years ago, when this Stabroek Market area was like a dump site, with garbage almost everywhere.
“Look how clean this place looked for the 50th Independence Anniversary, what has happened to the pride in our people, is that how they keep their immediate surroundings,” she lamented.

Initially, vending in the vicinity of the Guyana Fire Service was facilitated by the M&CC on Monday and Friday afternoons leading into Saturday morning, but with the removal of the vendors who used the ply their trade at the now condemned Stabroek Market Wharf, there has been an influx of persons who now vend there on a daily basis. However, the activity has apparently spiraled out of control, as the vendors now occupy a wider area. They now occupy in and around the vicinity of Cornhill and Hadfield Streets, in front and aback of the GFS, the latter area that is east of the old ferry stelling and to the north of the Stabroek Market.

This publication is aware that the M&CC has repeatedly urged the vendors to dispose their refuse in a responsible manner, and have repeatedly complained about the wanton disposal of refuse after vending in the very areas, but apparently their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

According to a source at the City Council, the vendors give the impression that because they are required to pay the council to vend, it is the job of the council to clean up after them.

To their credit, the council has placed `skip’ bins aback of the fire station to accommodate the refuse generated during market days, but it has been observed that most times the volume of refuse overspills the containers.

Cognisant that the GFS and its vital operations are at centre of the vending activity, the Guyana Chronicle sought a comment from Chief Fire Officer, Marlon Gentle, on how the service manages to cope.

According to Gentle, vending has been ongoing for some time in the vicinity but with the influx of new vendors, who were removed from the wharf and have encroached the area, it makes ingress and egress for the service a greater challenge.

He spoke of instances when the GFS response time to emergencies to a fire or to the scene of an accident, is delayed by as much as five minutes, as the service vehicles seek to maneuver their way out the area.

Also, with most of the drainage pipes in the location running underneath the GFS building, when the rain falls the water takes a long time to recede.

Gentle pointed out too, that most vendors at the end of their activity, leave behind piles upon piles of rotting perishables, sometimes in the middle of the roadway, which pose a sanitation problem. Additionally, some vendors do not even bother to dismantle the makeshift stands they set up to conduct their businesses.

The senior fire officer said while he is aware that the vending situation is being monitored by the City Council, he is of the view that the increasing numbers of vendors seem to have overwhelmed them.

Earlier this year, Mayor of Georgetown, Pandit Ubraj Narine was observed assisting in the cleaning of the environs west of the Parliament Building.

The M&CC has constantly been imploring upon citizens and businesses, to desist from the wanton disposal of garbage and littering and join in helping to keep the city clean.