Senior cop: Cancel Maracas Ash Wednesday ‘cooldown’

THE popular annual Ash Wednesday “cool-down” at Maracas Bay, which sees thousands of people including tourists make the trip to the North Coast following two days of Carnival revelry, may not come off this year if police have their way. “Right now, with the regular landslides and the possibility of falling boulders which can prove dangerous to life and limb, we are not sure if the annual celebration will take place this year,” head of North-Eastern Division — Senior Supt Waldron Bishop told Newsday. The statement follows a release from the Ministry of Works and Transport’s Public Relations Officer Bridget Adams, which stated that as of January 10, the North Coast Road was officially opened to the general public, although ongoing work was taking place. 

Road users are also advised to exercise caution and obey measures that have been put in place to ensure their safety. “Yes, the roads have been reopened but it is dangerous and the powers-that-be do not understand that a boulder could come down and injure or kill someone. I surely will not be going up there in the near future,” Bishop said. “And when we note the volume of people that make the annual Ash Wednesday trek to the beaches on the North Coast Road and the dangers of  landslides, I will advise that this year’s cool down be cancelled,” he added. In an unrelated matter, several residents along the North Coast remained stranded yesterday, when private bus drivers withheald their services to protest the road conditions.