EIGHT women are injured following the collapse of a tree at the first flooded field at Success on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) where squatters have been occupying lands for several months now.

According to reports received by this newspaper, at 14:10 hours on Friday, a huge tree, which is located on an east-west dam, collapsed on a group of squatters who were conversing nearby. This dam is located at one of the entrances to the squatting area; an area that comprises canefields and belongs to the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).

At this entrance, there are a few makeshift structures where many squatters congregate daily. There are small shops located here as well. At the time of the incident, the Guyana Chronicle understands, some of the women were sitting and chatting. Few other people were nearby. According to reports, one woman was seriously injured, while the others sustained minor injuries to the head, feet, arm and other parts of their bodies.

The injured persons are: 25-year old Dallyan Donald; 34-year-old Shevon Bell; 33-year-old Pinkey Benjamin; Smart (only name given); 46-year-old Sunita Persaud; 28-year-old Nafeeza Persaud; 47-year-old Nalini Lall; and 40-year-old Sonia Nazir.

Dallyan and Pinkey are known to the Guyana Chronicle, as they’d both related previously that they were squatting here because they feel as though they have no other option, since their finances have been reduced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Both Dallyan and Pinkey had also shared that they had applied for house lots for a number of years now; Pinkey has applied to the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) since 2006.

Vice-President Bharrat Jagdeo, in a recent interview, told the Guyana Chronicle that the Government will provide assistance to some of the squatters. This assistance, he added, would be getting them land to live on.

Recently also, the CH&PA began streamlining the land applications of squatters occupying those lands unlawfully, in an attempt to provide some redress. The CEO of the CH&PA, Sherywn Greaves, in an invited comment, said the Authority is doing all it can to assist those persons, but that it is still distributing lands in a structured manner, in that it is giving lands to persons with the oldest applications first.