Confusion surrounds EU-funded building

May 06, 2010 News

Mr Narine Chattergoon

Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice- A brouhaha involving the occupation of the Sunrise Community Development Centre (SCDC) seems to be escalating to new heights. President of the SCDC and Chairman of the ‘B’ Division Community Policing Groups, Mr Narine Chattergoon, says that he is dissatisfied with the recent actions of Regional Chairman of Region Five, Harrinarine Baldeo.
He alleged that on April 21 last, Mr Baldeo and a team, along with a police officer, descended upon the centre and broke into the building. They subsequently left the building after changing the padlocks on the doors.The SCDC was built with funds from the European Union in 2006 and, according to Chattergoon, was being used up to April 21, to teach children and to conduct training classes for women in the community in the afternoons.
Chattergoon believes that Baldeo received instructions from Local Government Minister Kellawan Lall to occupy the structure. He has since reported what he believed was breaking-and-entering, to the Commander of ‘B’ Division, Assistant Commissioner, Steve Merai, whom he is still to hear from.
Chattergoon said that the Regional Chairman seems to want to manipulate the use of the building which he [Chattergoon] was given sole permission to use after the EU grant to use in the first place. Chattergoon said that he will not sit idle until the matter is resolved and that he regains permission to use the building to continue his community programmes.
The Region Five Chairman, however, told a totally different story. Mr Harrinarine Baldeo said that the building was and still is under the care of the Bath Woodley Park Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC), and that the NDC had written Chattergoon on several occasions informing him that they [the NDC] will have need to use the building for an upcoming sponsored programme by the Basic Needs Trust Fund.
The Chairman said that Chattergoon had the building “locked up” and it was not being used. He said that the RDC needed a building to use for the Basic Needs project, and did not think it was right to rent another building when the SCDC was there being locked up on a daily basis. According to Baldeo, the Bath- Woodley Park NDC sanctioned the visit to the building on April 21 to change the padlocks. Baldeo said that he is not manipulating anything regarding the use of the building but has acted in accordance with the law.
With regards to who has more right over the building, Baldeo stated that there was never any formal agreement between the NDC and Chattergoon regarding the occupation of the building.
He also said that Chattergoon has not used the building for the past three months, and hence it was time that some use to the building had begun.
“We needed the building but he locked it up. He has some computers in there and they are in a miserable condition.”  The Chairman noted that himself along with the Overseer of the NDC, Field Auditor of the Region and an officer he requested from ‘B’ Division, visited the SCDC building on April 21, and that the situation is not what Mr. Chattergoon purports it to be.
(Leon Suseran)