Latest update April 20th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 22, 2012 News
The Bartica Development Action Group (BDAG) is calling on the Ministries of Health and Local Government for their intervention into a matter which is now posing a serious health hazard to persons living along the Potaro Road.
According to a statement released from the group, a company identified as the Country Wide Disposal Services has been dumping fecal waste on the parapet of the Bartica/Potaro Road.
The BDAG notes that over the last week, the company has been emptying the contents of septic tanks into their waste disposal truck and then dumping it along the roadway instead of disposing it in a proper manner.
“It is with our deepest dismay and disappointment, however, to discover, by way of numerous calls of complaints from residents, that the company is dumping the contents of the truck, literally on the parapet of the Bartica Potaro Road, a mere 20 feet from the actual road, in the middle of a pathway that is used by the Bartica Hospital staff to access an area where they dispose of sharps and other solid wastes,” the statement said.
The area where the feces is being dumped is also directly in front of the Bartica airstrip and a stone’s throw away from where the Five Miles Housing Scheme is being developed.
According to the group, even more troubling to them was the revelations that came out of discussions which members of the BDAG had with the Bartica Interim Management Committee (IMC) Chairman, and the Public Health Inspector. The IMC Chairman, Ovid Benjamin, when contacted, acknowledged giving “permission” to the company to operate in Bartica. However, he vehemently denied any involvement in deciding where the fecal matter was to be dumped.
The BDAG in its statement said that the Public Health Inspector, however, indicated that a representative from the company had made contact with her several months ago, proposing the village of Agatash for dumping of the waste, which she immediately objected to. There were no further discussions, until after the company started operating in Bartica. The local manager of the company then informed the Public Health Inspector that he was given “permission” by the IMC Chairman to collect and dispose of the fecal matter at the exact spot currently being used.
The BDA is even more concerned to have learnt that at no time during statutory meetings of the IMC did the members discuss the operations or even presence of the waste disposal company, even though the IMC Chairman had already given “permission” for the company to collect and even dispose of fecal matter in the community of Bartica.
Hence the Bartica Development Action Group, on behalf of all Barticians, is appealing to the relevant Ministries to immediately cause this very unhealthy practice to cease and to instruct the operators of the service to ensure that fecal matter is properly disposed of in accordance with approved methods. “The health and wellbeing of any community must not be so easily disregarded and taken for granted.”
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
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