Debe residents joined with the Debe to Mon Desir Highway Action Committee yesterday, to stage a demonstration in support of the Point Fortin to Golconda Highway. The protesters levelled harsh criticisms against environmental activist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh and the Highway Re-route Movement, calling them clowns and other insulting names.
However, Kublalsingh was at Gandhi Village, Debe, preparing a parcel of land for their new campsite. Kublalsingh said the land was privately owned and is situated along the proposed path of the highway. He described the protest against his group as nothing but chatter, but said, however, they were within their right to voice their concerns.
From around 8 am, the protesters gathered at the corner of the M1 Ring Road and the SS Erin Road, a short distance away from the demolished campsite of the Re-route Movement, chanting, "We want de highway, Debe residents want the highway." They held placards that said, "We need access road from Point Fortin to UWI Debe Campus," "Re-route Kublal-sin" and "Without the highway, there is no work for people."
They contended that the highway would benefit all communities along the south-western peninsula, as it would significantly reduce the traffic congestion. President of the Highway Action Committee Edward Moodie lashed out against the Re-route Movement and also announced his intentions to file a lawsuit against Kublalsingh, for the slanderous comment he made about the firebombing of his (Moodie) home, earlier this year.
Moodie said, "There are many people here, there are taxi drivers, businessmen, housewives, people who plant garden, who conduct all sort of things in the Debe and Penal area. They condemn the atrocity that you saw being levelled against the people of Penal. "The media went hard core, Debe residents this, Debe residents that... That is a lot of crap, there are probably two or three people who from Debe, who are in that Re-route group, the rest of them are from Murray Trace.
"Drive through Penal and Debe now and you will see the madness that we have to experience. Why should we continue this for the next 20 years, when a few clowns have decided that they want to stop the highway. This is wrong as wrong could be, the majority of people are in support of this highway."
Kublalsingh insisted that the main issue was that Government had launched a savage attack against the people living along the Oropouche Lagoon, by utilising state resources. Despite this, he said they will continue the fight against the construction of the Debe to Mon Desir portion of the highway.
