Corriverton Market vendors seeking compensation for goods damaged in 2023 fire

Almost two months after a fire had destroyed a section of the Corriverton Market in the Upper Corentyne area of Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), some affected vendors are still reeling from the impact of that disaster, and are begging for compensation since, according to them, they are struggling to get by.
On November 27, 2023, fire destroyed a section of the Corriverton Market, and the Guyana Fire Service later determined that an electric fan which was left switched on in one of the stalls had overheated and caused the fire, which gutted sections of the facility.

Some affected vendors have not been able to return to plying their trade in the market, while others have since opted to utilise the road shoulders to so do. Apart from those stalls that were destroyed by the fire, scores of stalls had been affected, and merchandise had been destroyed. The vendors are calling for compensation.
Bhasmatie Bishram had vended for 23 years at nine stalls she had occupied in the Corriverton Market.

“We want them to compensate us, so that we can get to start back our business,” the woman said, adding that she has suffered tremendous losses. “They said that we should go to the station, and I made a report at the station and I said it was $2M, thinking that the rest of the goods that I carried home were still going to be goods. But after washing them, then I saw that the majority was damaged; so, it is over $2M,” Bishram explained.
Mahawattie Vishnu, who had been a vendor at the Corriverton Market for the past 38 years, said six weeks have passed and no one has said anything to the vendors. In tears, she pointed out that she lost her grocery shop and three bonds, which she claimed were fully stocked.
“Me lose everything! Leaving out the three bonds and the shop…I am hoping that I would get something back, because no one is coming and telling us anything. We want them to come and say what they are going to do,” she lamented.
Chromani Chandradatt, called ‘Buckin’, had also been selling in the market for over 30 years. She lost the shop she had been operating, she says, and she currently needs help.
“Half of the stand was packed (with) grocery, and the back was packed with all the spices. Everything burnt to dust, I have nothing,” she lamented.
Yolanda Smart has said she had lost nothing to the actual fire, but two of her three stalls were looted. And Gaitree Rambarose who had occupied three stalls told this publication that at the time of the fire, she was out of the country. She returned two weeks later.
“When I opened my stall, all my clothes, cosmetics, and everything were soaking wet and damaged,” she detailed.
Rambarose added that she had to reinvest in her business. She, like other vendors in the market, has said she had had to endure a fly infestation which has caused many consumers to shy away from that part of the market.
“Nobody wants to come at the back here to buy anything. I would pack out my stand and then go till at the end and sit down, because the place smelling bad,” the woman, who has been vending in the market for the past 15 years, said.
Some vendors have said they suffered losses as a result of looting, and they are seeking compensation.

According to these vendors, they met with Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh, who was in the region during the Christmas period sharing gifts to children, and they took the opportunity to raise their concerns with him. They say they were asked to submit estimates in relation to their losses, and they have since so done, and are now awaiting feedback.
Meanwhile, they said, efforts were only this week made to clean up the area since the fire had occurred last year.
During his 2024 National Budget presentation, Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had stated that, this year, $1.2 billion has been budgeted to complete five community markets and to rehabilitate the Corriverton, Kumaka, and Suddie markets. (G4)