Caroni a volcano ready to erupt

CHAGUANAS Mayor Orlando Nagessar has described the restructuring programme at “Caroni (1975) Limited as a “volcano ready to  erupt”.

“What you saw happening at the Rudranath Capildeo Learning Resource Centre on Thursday is the tip of the iceberg. The situation would escalate with greater intensity and the Government better open its eyes and see what can be done to reduce the tension before it is too late,” he warned. “I could feel negative vibes and in fact I could feel it in my  bones that the Caroni volcano will erupt.  You know what it is to place 9,000 workers on the breadline — such a situation must have social and cultural implications, and people will act accordingly as a hungry man is an angry man.”

Nagessar offered to serve as a mediator in the matter. He said he  was  against violence of any sort but Agriculture Minister John Rahael  must take full blame if anything should go wrong as a result of Government’s insistence in carrying out the restructuring programme. “Over 100,000 people living in the country would be affected in one way or the other if 9,000 sugar workers were to go home and this would  hamper the country in a big way,” Nagessar said. He said Government should have held discussions with all the stakeholders in the industry before embarking on the exercise. “They handled the matter the wrong way and in that regard were antagonising about half of the population of the country,” he said.