Police, army end illegal Wallerfield quarrying

THE illegal quarrying in Wallerfield has ceased completely due in large measure to increased foot and mobile patrols by soldiers and policemen. “There is also a praedial larceny squad operating out of the Arima Police Station and it has instituted a series of patrols in the area which have helped to drastically reduce illegal activities like the now defunct unlawful mining operations,” a resident told Newsday. However, he said, environmental damage was already done to the area. “Huge, gouged out holes remain in the forests where hundreds of metric tonnes of gravel have been removed and left there,” he said, adding that attempts by the illegal miners to dredge the Aripo riverbed had ceased as a result of the clampdown by the security personnel.

“It’s one of the few clean rivers existing on the East West Corridor.” He said the trucks used in the illegal quarrying activities to transport pitron, the raw material that separates clay from gravel, had stopped operating in the area with the advent of the patrols. “The heavy trucks destroyed the already terrible road conditions in the area,” the resident said. “There was an expressed intent to relocate the farmers in the area at a meeting held with the Wallerfield Development Committee within the last three months.” He noted that government surveyors have been conducting surveys in the area for the high-tech park and other developmental projects earmarked. “At least, there would be no further destruction of the environment and hopefully, the rehabilitation of the general Wallerfield region would be given an opportunity to proceed,” the resident said.