Trench cleaners in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) complained bitterly to the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) at the monthly statutory meeting held on Tuesday after losing their contracts with the Region.
The RDC facilitated a meeting with the affected trench cleaners to hear their plight
Some of the contractors meeting with the RDC on Tuesday
after their contracts were not renewed. According to some of the cleaners, they had been maintaining the trenches in the Region for as long as 10 years without many problems and suddenly they got instructions from the Drainage and Irrigation Department of the Region to ceased work.
Some of the trench cleaners complained that when they first received the contract some of the trenches were in very bad condition and they worked for as low as $6, $7, and $8 dollars per rod. However, one cleaner has told the RDC that now the hard work has been done, the contract has been taken away from them and given to close friends of high officials within the Drainage and Irrigation Department for a lucrative amount of $200 per rod. Regional Chairman Devanand Ramdatt immediately called on Councillors to vote for an immediate investigation and to put a hold on all new trench cleaning contracts within the Region. As such, with the support of both sides of the RDC, a vote was moved for the investigation to be launched.
