Mayor: Don’t mark Indian Arrival Day

CHAGUANAS MAYOR Suruj Ram-bachan declared that this year’s Indian Arrival Day celebrations were not a cause for celebration given the levels of crime and discrimination in Trini-dad and Tobago today. Addressing an inter-faith service at the Woodland Community Centre on Sunday, Rambachan said: “The problems such as discrimination and crime facing the Indian community in 2004 were far more important to address in a strategic manner than singing, dancing and dragging a boat in the middle of the road.”

The Mayor called on Indo-Trinidadians to “wake from their slumber and escape from their state of being victims to wider influences in the society.” He also called on Government to adopt a national multi-cultural policy which “will steer public policy in the direction of mutual respect, appreciation, sharing and tolerance” among all ethnic and cultural groups in the society.