Bulldozing was Commissioner’s directive

After over 20 houses were destroyed at Culture Road, residents expressed their outrage by burning debris across the Valencia stretch, causing a major traffic build up. Valencia Police were called out to ensure law and order.

This did not stop the residents from protesting again on Tuesday by burning debris after their call for justice was ignored. At first, the Land Settlement Agency (LSA) was blamed for the bulldozing of the houses. However, when contacted for comment, Housing and Urban Development Minister Randall Mitchell, under whose purview the LSA falls, said his ministry was not responsible for the exercise.

He said his ministry was not empowered to carry out such an exercise and said the exercise was carried out by Commissioner of State Lands Paula Drakes, who is empowered to demolish all structures deemed to be unlawfully constructed on state land. Contacted yesterday, Al Rawi said Drakes had very definite and certain responsibilities in law.

“I was informed that the bulldozing occurred on the direction of the Commissioner of State Lands. I have been calling on her to meet with me, calling on a constant basis. I wrote again today asking that she come and have a meeting with me and was told she was not available. I am hoping she would be available some time soon “I appreciate that she has a very large workload, but I too have a very large workload and have been making myself available as best as I can,” Al Rawi said.

The AG said he is aware that the commissioner’s office has a huge backlog, but there are things to be sorted out and he would continue to make efforts to meet with her.

Al Rawi noted that it was defined in law that the Commissioner of State Lands is a public office and not a Cabinet appointee.

The Commissioner is appointed by the head of the Public Service Commission (PSC). All attempts by Newsday to contact Commissioner Drakes and PSC officials for comment yesterday were unsuccessful.