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Opposition Member of Parliament (MP) and Shadow Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Ganesh Mahipaul is upping his call for President Irfaan Ali to meet with the vendors of Parika market.
Last Friday the market was destroyed by fire. In its wake scores of vendors have been dislocated and their livelihood impacted due to the loss suffered from their investment.
Mahipaul, who also has parliamentary responsibility for Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), said the fire reminded him of the loss in Canewiew, Mocha, “albeit by a different demon.”
Last month the government moved into the Mocha area, with heavy duty vehicles, and destroyed homes, businesses, motor vehicles, livestock and crops of residents who they claimed were in the pathway of the construction of a new road. The plan layout and photograph evidence showed this not to be true. One woman, who was a beverage distributor for Banks DIH and Ansa McAl, said she lost millions.
The MP said the situation in Parkia, as Mocha, is equally a sad one and he saw men and women cried as they related to him their losses.
Visiting the scene Mahipaul said he was told the fire started as a result of the droplets of melted metals due to welding that was being done on the steel frame. The Guyana Fire Department has since said the fire was the result of poor safety measures utilised during welding of a steel frame for the new market.
According to him, it now begs the question about what health and safety measures were in place at the Marketing Centre. Thank God, he said, no person was injured, as he made the call for a thorough investigation.
Questioning the fate of the vendors, Mahipaul said he remembers only too well how quickly the government responded to the vendors in Mon Repos Market, and rightly so, but wondered why they hadn’t been as quick in responding to the Parika situation.
The MP told Village Voice News as at last evening (Sunday) President Ali was a no show and pointed out that in the case of Mon Repos the president was on the ground the same day, comforting vendors and the community, and directed the state to provide financial relief.
Mahipaul said he tagged the President in his social media post on the fire to ensure he knows what is happening and cannot deny not knowing and he hopes the president acts soonest.
He questioned whether the vendors were asked to submit a list of what they lost with an estimated cost, and were they given a sound and proper assurance of help.
Committing to the vendors of re-building is good, he said, but better is assurance of proper compensation.
“As the elected Regional MP of Region 3, I now formally call on President Irfaan Ali to visit the vendors of Parika and begin the process of compensation by putting a structure in place to first assess and verify.”
Our vendors must get back on their feet sooner rather than later, for every day that passes is an expense on them with no income, he declared.
