FORMER Chairman of the Cane Grove Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Bhagwin Ramsarran, who holds the position of Finance Committee Chairman and councillor, is a rice farmer by profession who dedicates his time to community-based development.

He served as chairman for 18 years before hanging up his gloves and handing down the baton to a much younger chairperson, Kashni Rooplall.

He is a resident of Coconut Dam who told the Pepperpot Magazine that Cane Grove is on the road to transformation in terms of infrastructure, street lights and drainage.

Ramsarran said they have all the basic necessities such as potable water, electricity, internet, and landline phones.

He stated that they have abundant fruits, vegetables, rice, livestock and poultry and the bulk of the produce goes to wholesale buyers at the La Penitence Market and other markets in the city to.

A handful of locals sell their produce at the Mahaica market, the central point of businesses and a shopping area.

“In this village, things are fairly good. The people are ordinary working class, our main economic activities revolve around rice and cash crops farming and it is work, eat, sleep on repeat because we are hardworking people,” he said.

Neemawattie Baldeo
Meanwhile, Neemawattie Baldeo, a councillor and a statistics clerk employed at the Grannyfield Saywah Health Centre, Cane Grove, told the Pepperpot Magazine that she is giving back to her community as a volunteer.

Wearing many hats isn’t always favourable regarding time management, but Baldeo has that under control, since she is a gifted multi-tasker.

She related that Zoom and WhatsApp have also made things easier, whereby meetings were possible and being there in person was not necessary.

Baldeo added that she enjoys her job at the Greenfield Saywah Health Centre and is among the seven staffers supervised by a visiting doctor from Mondays to Fridays.

The councillor told the Pepperpot Magazine that the health facility provides primary health care from 08:00hrs to 16:30hrs on weekdays and they have the largest clinic on Mondays, which is for chronic diseases.

On Tuesdays, they have pregnant women’s clinic; on Wednesdays, they host the children’s clinic; outpatient is from 13:00hrs to 16:30hrs.

Baldeo said she likes her village of Virginia because of the quietness and the peace it brings and it is a safe place to live.

“The people are neighbourly and we don’t have any form of racism in Cane Grove in general, because we treat everyone as we would like to be treated,” she said.

Baldeo added that annually, they host a party for the elderly in the community and last year they catered for 360.

Their yearly toy drive for children and back-to-school initiative is also active and they partner with the business community to equip children to return to school.

Baldeo disclosed that the three remaining internal streets will be upgraded this year and they host the annual gymkhana on January 1st and 2nd at the Grannyfield Playgroup, where the greasy pole is usually the feature event.

She related that Cane Grove has two pump stations, one that is electrical and located at Joyce Phillips Village and the other is mechanically operated at Huntley Village.

Delano Williams photos saved in a folder in Graphics as Cane Grove Village January 31, 2023.