Basdeo family leave State lands

AFTER her shack at Blitz Village Extension, Pleasant-ville was bulldozed three times over a three-day period by a demolition crew from the Land and Settlement Agency (LSA), Annette Basdeo and her family, seem to have given up the fight to stay on the State lands. Checks by Newsday yesterday revealed that the Basdeo family were not at Blitz Village Extention and we were told they had left to stay at the home of relatives out of the area. Efforts to locate the family proved futile. On Thursday, an LSA demolition crew moved in and knocked down Basdeo’s house after the structure was deemed to have been constructed illegally on State lands. Basdeo, along with her husband Junior, their three children and another young relative, were occupying the lands for the past ten months.

The desperate woman said she was given both written and verbal notice by the LSA and went to Diane Seukeran for assistance, only to be sent to Prime Minister Patrick Manning in whose constituency the Basdeo’s home fell under. She further claimed to have gotten no help when she approached Manning. Three hours after the first demolition, the Basdeo’s rebuilt the house since they said they had nowhere to go. On Friday, the demolition crew moved in for a second time and demolished the structure. For a second time, the house was rebuilt.

Speaking to Newsday after the second demolition, Basdeo vowed not to move and promised to keep on re-building every time the house was broken down. On Saturday, around midday, LSA officials came for the third time and ripped apart the house. Newsday was told by a resident in the area, who asked to remain anonymous, that after the house was demolished for the third time, the family apparently gave up the fight and moved in with relatives elsewhere. Basdeo claimed that she received both verbal and written notices to vacate the premises, but added that she did not take heed because she did not have anywhere to go. Efforts to reach Basdeo yesterday for comment proved futile.