– Lands and Surveys Office in Back Bush Polder to be resuscitated

By Nafeeza Yahya-Sakur

AGRICULTURE Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha, said plans are on stream to bring a branch of the Guyana School of Agriculture to Region Six. The minister made this disclosure during a meeting with residents in Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder on Friday at the Mibicuri Primary School.

The Lands and Surveys Office will also be resuscitated and will be equipped with staff on a full time basis to effectively deal with the countless land title related issues faced by Black Bush Polder residents.

Also present at the meeting were Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall; Regional Chairman, David Armogan; Regional Vice-Chairman, Zamal Hussain; representatives from Lands and Surveys and staff from various agencies of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Recognising the importance of agriculture to the region and need to move away from basic to a modern and scientific approach to farming, Minister Mustapha said the school will be of great help to Berbicians both in Regions Five and Six.

“Berbice here as we brought tertiary education and other technical education when I look at other all rounded, GSA has been left out of Berbice so I am planning as soon as the board is formed and very shortly when the board is formed that will be headed by Dr. Dindyal Permaul, the former permanent secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, I will task the new board to bring up here a branch of the Guyana School of Agriculture so that Berbicians can get the same facilities that are in Georgetown and Essequibo,” he said.

Meanwhile, among the issues raised by farmers include lands, leases, titles, proper healthcare facility, proper roads, water, schools not adequately equipped and the need for recreational sporting facilities in the communities.

FOLLOW UP MEETINGS

Minister Nandlall pointed out that while the issues cannot be addressed in a singular meeting, he promised that other meetings will be held overtime and on a regular basis so as to listen to the concerns with the aim of finding the right solutions

“In opposition, the PPP/C has made a number of promises to be in every part of Guyana to meet with people and to address their concerns. We are not a government that remains in a building in Georgetown; that is not our style of governance. Our style of governance is to go out into communities, villages, interiors, hinterlands, farm areas and meet the people and take government to the people. Here the staff from the ministry and staff from the Lands and Survey all converging here to address issues that residents of Black Bush would have raising with us while we were in opposition and they have countess problems. We cannot solve all the problems at a singular meeting that is why I promised a protracted engagement over the next five years on a regular basis,” he said.

Further, by next week, the Lands and Surveys Department in Back Bush Polder will be operational with a compliment of full-time staff.

“I also asked that the Lands and Survey Department, because it is so essential to so many problems raised here that department, be resuscitated and fully staffed and operate on a full time basis in Back Bush as it used to operate years ago. I know that Lands and Surveys was here with an office historically and I thought perhaps with us being out of government that the office was closed because I couldn’t imagine that you had an office right here and you have so many hundreds of lands and survey-related issues without it being addressed, so obviously something went wrong and we have to ensure that the office resumes functionality at a proper level and we equip the office with staff who have the authority to make the decisions,” he said.

Residents expressed gratitude for the visit and are hopeful to see solutions to the issues raised in a timely manner.