–Attorney-General says, calls on City Council to desist from licensing illegal vending operations

ENCUMBERING public reserves, inclusive of road shoulders, embankments, pedestrian walks, government reserves and State reserves is a criminal offence, according to Attorney-General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, S.C.

He said that the Georgetown Mayor and City Council (M&CC) is purporting to legitimise criminal occupation of these reserves by accepting a fee from persons, and allowing them to vend on these lands.

“These vendors erect make-shift stalls, sheds, or place caravans, motor vehicles, carts and other receptacles on these lands from which they do vending. This use of these lands are causing serious traffic hazards, traffic congestions, public inconvenience, and they also affect private proprietors from accessing and enjoying the use and benefits of their properties,” the Legal Affairs Minister said.

He added: “We are well aware of the fact that businesses on Regent Street and other commercial streets have been forced to secure orders of court against vending on the pavement in front of their commercial premises. The garbage which emanates from this type of occupation has become a monumental problem.”

Further, Nandlall said that while the government is expending a tremendous amount of time and resources on trying to clean the city and its environs, a venture that the City Council has publicly refused to join hands on, it is exacerbating the problem by licensing persons to create these public nuisances.

“We simply cannot continue in this way,” Nandlall said, adding that this is a country-wide problem, since, in any community, persons are confronted with eye-sores including wrecked vehicles left on street corners and parapets.

Noting that the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils have been advised to remove these encumbrances and institute criminal charges if necessary, Nandlall said while the government recognises that these vendors are earning a living, and, in that respect, is empathic, they cannot continue to do so in a manner that causes public disorder, and creates a public nuisance. The laws must be enforced to ensure an orderly society.

“In the city, if this state of affairs is not addressed by the City Council, the government will be forced to act, including taking over some of these city streets under The Roads Act,” The Attorney-General said.