No Minister can stop flooding

THE EDITOR: According to the anthropological thesis “Indians in Trinidad” by two white foreign researchers in the 1960s, Indians who came to Trinidad at the end of Indentureship set up settlements close to the various water courses across the islands. Africans had left the plantations in droves and headed for the cities. Strangely these developments are now manifesting in claims of racial discrimination. All rivers in their lower courses have flood plains which spill over from time to time whenever there is copious rainfall.  Trinidad and Tobago is no different.  Historically most Indian villages have been established in the flat lands of the  central and south parts of Trinidad and on the flood plains.

Flooding is natural and no Minister of Works can bring this to an end. Franklin Khan has to level with these folks. He must tell them that flooding in their areas can be reduced but not become a thing of the past. His government must take action to bring to an end, the cutting down of the Northern Range which causes sheet flooding and the swelling of the rivers along the Caroni plains. He must also advise these folks that they should desist from disposing of bags of chicken feathers and other debris in the water courses. Promising to bring flooding to an end is promising a fool’s paradise. Rivers overflowing their banks have been happening since the earth was formed millions of years ago.

MC DONALD JAMES
Couva