Kevon Felmine

Af­ter vis­it­ing the slums in San Fer­nan­do, may­or Dr Navi Mu­radali says he is com­pelled to write the Hous­ing De­vel­op­ment Cor­po­ra­tion over the poor con­di­tion that ex­ists at the Mon Re­pos apart­ment build­ings. The may­or and his coun­cil­lors wit­nessed first-hand the hor­rid con­di­tions faced by more then 200 res­i­dents which in­clud­ed, un­em­ploy­ment, lack of wa­ter, un­fin­ished con­struc­tion works and back yards over­grown with bush­es.

The tour came two days af­ter ex­as­per­at­ed res­i­dents held a fiery protest along the Na­pari­ma-Ma­yaro Road, op­po­site the apart­ment build­ings. Coun­cil­lor for Mon Re­pos/Navet, Sha­ka Joseph, em­pha­sis­ing the plight of the res­i­dents, told Mu­radali that the first mur­der of the year took place at the back of the build­ings.

Dil­lon Massey, 20, was gunned down on New Year's Day by two men who hid in the tall bush­es. A week ago, Sheila Ho­sein was saved by her pet dogs, Hunter and Co­nan, who cor­nered a five-foot snake, be­lieved to be a maca­juel, at her front porch, Tor­rance Street, Mon Re­pos.

Mu­radali said res­i­dents had reached a point where they need­ed the HDC to clean the area. He al­so said his coun­cil would meet to de­cide what help they can give.