THE OPPOSITION United National Congress (UNC) has opted for new blood to lead the fight in the Chaguanas Borough and Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Corporations in the July 14 Local Government Elections. In Chaguanas, incumbent Mayor Orlando Nagessar and his deputy Gopaul Boodan return to contest their respective electoral districts of Felicity/ Endeavour and Montrose. Also returning to face the polls will be UNC incumbents Roshard Kasmally and Salisha Esahak in Enterprise North and Charlieville respectively. The party is hoping newcomer Michael Gilmore will oust incumbent People’s National Movement (PNM) councillor  Ronald Heera from Enterprise South and ensure that all eight electoral districts are controlled by the UNC. Veteran UNC councillors Vijay Kalloo and Sunil Mohammed, who served for ten and four years respectively, were not selected. In Couva/Tabaquite/ Talparo, incumbent chairman Ranjit Ramnarine will seek another term when he contests the Waterloo/ Perseverance/ St Mary’s district. UNC incumbents Shaffimoon Fajh, Feeraz Ali and Sahadeo Boondoo will return to defend their respective seats of Balmain/Esperanza/Forres Park, Gasparillo/Bonne Aventure and Longdenville/Mamoral.

Two popular cricketers, Boya Sahadeo and Premnath Ramnath, are newcomers in the UNC’s line-up and are optimistic of succcessful innings in their respective electoral districts of Caratal/ Tortuga and Freeport/ Calcutta. The hot seat in this corporation is expected to be California/Point Lisas where the PNM is pinning its hopes on Rhonda Bartholomew-John to make the breakthrough and party General Secretary Martin Joseph has urged PNM supporters to shock the UNC in its Central Trinidad heartland. Former corporation chairman Ramchand Rajbal, an ardent community worker and member of the Couva Carnival Committee, was not selected to contest the polls for the UNC. Rajbal joined National Team Unity which has decided to stay out of the July 14 elections. Party Local Government coordinator Chandresh Sharma said UNC incumbents would not receive automatic selection as candidates.

The full slate of candidates for these corporations is-
Chaguanas: Orlando Nagessar (Felicity/ Endeavour); Roshard Kasmally (Enterprise North); Salish Esahak (Charlieville); Michael Gilmore (Enterprise South); Joey Samuel (Monroe Road/Caroni Savannah); Rana Persad (Longdenville/Edinburgh); Darsingh Inalsingh (Cunupia) and Gopaul Boodan (Montrose)
Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo: Ranjit Ramnarine (Waterloo/Perseverance); Shaffimoon Fajh (Balmain/ Esperanza/Forres Park); Chaitram Rampersad (California/Point Lisas); Boya Sahadeo (Caratal/Tortuga); Harold Rambharat (Claxton Bay/Pointe-a-Pierre); Paras Ramoutar (Edinburgh/ Chickland); Allan Seepersad (Calcutta/McBean); Premnath Ramnath (Freeport/Calcutta); Manohar Gosine (Las Lomas/San Rafael/Talparo), Sahadeo Boondoo (Longdenville/ Mamoral) and Henry Awong (Piparo/San Pedro/ Tabaquite).

Some semblance of order was returned to the environs of Vale View Terrace, Diego Martin yesterday when two policemen from West End Station arrived shortly before 9am to regulate the flow of traffic on St Lucien Road and to ensure that Vale View was resurfaced without undue nuisance to commuters and to nearby residents. The only real glitch in the day’s events occurred when a few residents of Sunset Gardens, which is a private road, objected to the parking of huge concrete pump trucks in front of their homes. They told Newsday that when they asked the police to move the trucks, they were told by one of the officers that Sunset Gardens was not a private road because it had no barrier. They were also warned not to take any steps to have the trucks removed, or they would be arrested and charged. Yesterday’s police presence followed instructions on Tuesday from Diego Martin Regional Corporation’s chairman, Bridgette Anisette-George for work at Vale View to come to an immediate halt and for Vale View developer, Gowkaran Mahabir to repave — with police presence — Vale View Terrace, which he had dug up the week before. He was also ordered to clear clogged drains on St Lucien Road and to put in a box drain on Vale View, as per the requirements of his Town and Country Planning Division outline permission. Tuesday’s stop notice was the second issued to Mahabir by the corporation, the first coming in March this year, when the corporation noticed that construction of townhouses was taking place on the hillside “without its knowledge or permission.” According to Anisette George, after the stop notice, Mahabir was instructed to carry out “restoration work” to repair the “substantial scarring” of the hillside. It also demanded that four retention ponds be put in place. On Wednesday, nevertheless, work commenced as usual just before 8am, coming to a halt a few hours later, only because of the insistence of the corporation that there be police presence on site.

Yesterday, the majority of residents expressed relief at the sight of the police officers who sought for the most part, successfully, to prevent the developer’s concrete mixers and trucks from mounting sidewalks, blocking entrances to roads and causing massive traffic jams. However, some expressed alarm that the material being used to resurface the road was concrete and not pitch. They said they hoped the surface would last, that they would suffer no more hardship and that they would be allowed to return to a normal life in their homes. Many still expressed concern, though, at the risk of landslides from the cutting of the hillside, now that the rainy season has begun. Others hoped that with yesterday’s paving, which went into the late afternoon, work on the project would indeed come to an end, in compliance with the corporation’s stop notice. Former UNC Planning Minister John Humphrey approved the development at Vale View on December 6, 2000, after Town and Country refused Mahabir’s first application to develop the lands on upper Vale View in late 2000. Mahabir then obtained a Certificate of Clearance from the EMA, attached to which was a list of conditionalities, after a site visit by an EMA inspector in December 2002. The EMA, though, before giving its certificate, wrote to the Town and Country Planning Division of the Planning Ministry, seeking its guidance. In early 2003, it was informed by Senior Land Use Planner, Rodney Ramlogan, of Town and Country that the department had “no objection to the proposal,” once the developer promised to, among other things, widen the existing access road off St Lucien Road to a minimum of 4.5 metres or 15 feet.

Residents yesterday told Newsday that Vale View Terrace was being widened by workers covering the open drains on either side, which lead onto St Lucien Road. They said they fear such a move will cause great flooding on Vale View and on St Lucien Road this rainy season. According to EMA documents, the planned development site was a former quarry, abandoned 40 to 50 years ago. The new set of townhouses, according to the EMA, were to be placed 30 feet away from Mahabir’s previous townhouse development on Vale View, a set of orange and yellow townhouses built in 2001, which his brother Sookram told neighbours were selling for $800,000 each. The EMA letter also said that Mahabir would contain the physical development to approximately the lower portion of the site, “that part already serviced by the existing cut access, or 50 percent of the site area.” Mahabir was given no permission to cut an access road further up the hill, yet according to residents, the existing access road was extended above and beyond the site of the development, almost over onto the other side of the mountain. Troubles began at Vale View two years ago with the construction of the first set of townhouses when some residents complained that the construction was causing disturbance, nuisance and damage to their property.

A week ago, the surface of Vale View was dug up to have it upgraded, but rain washed away the concrete and brought mud and slush onto St Lucien Road. One couple told Newsday they were forced to flee their marital home of seven years, built on land purchased from Mahabir, despite complaints to the owner and his brother that they could not drive up to their house. Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment, Rennie Dumas said on Wednesday that he had written to the EMA to see whether the developer was satisfying the terms of his EMA certificate, which state, among other things, that nuisance disturbance to neighbours should be minimised, the access road would be widened, and that construction hoarding and fences should be built to minimise disturbance on neighbouring fences with respect to noise, dust and runoff. The EMA told Newsday it had sent a site inspector to Vale View on Wednesday. The environmental agency is expected to submit its report to the Minister on Monday. Yesterday one resident remarked that the country “had come to a sorry state when its citizens had to go to the media for help because they could not get any from the relevant authorities.”

THE mother of a 14-year-old school girl who was attacked and bitten by three pompeks on Monday is demanding compensation for her child’s injuries. Outraged over the incident and the seeming uncaring attitude of the dog’s owners, Karlene Adams, a tenant of the Embacadere NHA apartments, is calling on NHA officials to investigate the incident. Adams told Newsday earlier this week that NHA should investigate the incident since the NHA housing contracts state that tenants are not allowed to have dogs on the compound, neither are they allowed to place plants along  the banister of the apartments. Admitting that she herself was the owner of two dogs, Adams explained: “I not afraid to say that I have two dogs, but I make sure they are secured at all times.” Recalling the incident on Monday, Adams said her daughter, Simone Cooper, was securing their two dogs near the washroom area at the back of their apartment home when Cooper was attacked by three pompeks, belonging to a nearby tenant.                                                            

The child was bitten on both legs and had to seek medical treatment at the San Fernando General Hospital. Adams said her daughter was still experiencing pains. The woman made it clear that initially she did not want money from the dogs’ owner, but only for them to stand the cost of the medical expenses. “All they give me is twenty dollars and tell me that is enough. I had to travel to go the hospital and health centre with her. That money cannot buy my child’s medicine,” Adams complained. The distressed woman said she reported the incident to San Fernando police and an officer told  her that the dogs’ owners had to give her compensation. However, Adams insisted that to date, she has not received any compensation from the owner of the pompeks, except the $20.

On Wednesday night  more than 100 students of Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Sciences, took the Hippocratic Oath pledging their loyalty to the ethics of their chosen profession. The Oath Taking Ceremony, the fourth of its kind for the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of the West Indies (UWI), was held at the Learning Resource Centre, UWI Campus, St Augustine, under the patronage of Dr June Ramjohn Richards, wife of President George Maxwell Richards. This was the first time that graduates from all three schools had a combined ceremony. In his feature address, Dr David Picou, Chairman of the Ethics Committee of CAREC, reminded the graduates of their oath to serve the public. He condemned the recent strike action taken by local doctors stating that they and their supporters focused only on their rights and paid scant attention to their duties as professionals. “They were unable to provide me with an ethical justification of their actions,” he said, “because there simply was none.” Quoting from the Fourth Edition of the Ethics Manual of the American College of Physicians, Dr Picou revealed that physicians should not participate in a strike that adversely affects access to health care. “Instead, they must find alternatives to strikes to address workplace concerns,” he read.

Criticism for the striking doctors also came from Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie, Pro Vice Chancellor and UWI Campus Principal, who called on the graduates to do what they could to improve the image and reputation of their profession. “Morality,” he asserted, “and perhaps even more than that — ethics, must be the most important pillar in your foundation as the healing hands serving this country.” Dr Tewarie noted that in recent times the roles of doctors, dentists and veterinarians had changed dramatically from the 1930s and 1940s when practitioners had a large number of patients and limited resources. Today, he said, the demand for medical services continues to increase and with the advent of new technology and other developments it is the qualitative demand that is increasing at an exponential rate. He said, “Medical malpractice, lawsuits and even scandals have redefined public perception of practitioners. “It is therefore up to you to maintain a high sense of personal and professional integrity,” he advised.

EVEN as Atlantic LNG operations are blamed for the respiratory and asthmatic problems faced by residents in Pt Fortin, the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) maintains otherwise. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, general-secretary of  Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) said that in a test conducted earlier this year, 85 percent of the residents tested, had come down with asthmatic problems within the last year. This he attributed to the operations of Atlantic LNG where the people live. Aboud said he was “obviously dissatisfied”  that Atlantic LNG was allowed to continue the work and likened the situation to a rape of a loved one before another’s eyes. Neil Parsanlal, Corporate Communications Officer at the EMA said the results by the FFOS were “inconclusive. “Responding to the perceived connection between incidence of asthma and respiratory problems by residents to ALNG operations he said, “To say they are  directly linked is not scientific.”     

He said the fact that there were not any studies undertaken before to enable a comparative analysis, makes any connection between ALNG and respiratory problems “medically unsound”  “The EMA cannot operate on these statistics.” Parsanlal added. He added that the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC) did not come into effect until July 2001. This came after Trains I to III were completed. “They (ALNG)  must provide a disaster-preparedness plan before starting work there. They must submit these plans to us  for approval.” Parsanlal further said, “ We have imposed standards that are not yet law in Trinidad, we are aiming to set standards.” MP for the area Larry Achong who was present on Tuesday night, sought to clarify that the EMA was doing its job.