RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Newly installed councillor for Debe South, Khamraj Seecharan says he is eager to begin work in the community which has suffered from water shortages and flooding.
Just a year after his predecessor Purushottam Singh died, Seecharan said he was honoured to be officially sworn in as the local government representative.
He said rather than burn tyres and protest, he believed in diplomacy and community partnerships with the private sector.
“My approach to dealing with things will be different. We want to engage stakeholders about our problems and send proposals. We want to get the community involved. We want to form private partnerships with people to help with the problems,” Seecharan said.
He added, “It is not just about loud voices and burning tyres. We want to work together.”
Already Seecharan has been engaging stakeholders.
He said last week during his walkabout, residents highlighted many issues including poor drainage, flooding and water shortages.
“We met with WASA last Friday and they assessed the water schedule. We sought different avenues to improve the water supply. There are areas where people get water maybe once every two or three weeks. This is unbearable and it’s one of the things I want to start working on immediately,” Seecharan said.
Also pressing, he said, was the issue of flooding.
“We are now in the dry season and this is the opportunity we can take to get into the areas, get rivers cleaned and de-silted. This is what I want to deal with early so there will not be these issues further down in the year,” he added.
The community has faced flooding because of ad hoc development. Several businesspeople have blocked main watercourses including a former councillor.
A businessman at Seuradge Trace has also diverted a watercourse causing floods to surround the home of a resident along the Railway Line. The residents of Seuradge Trace Extension said they hoped to see some redress soon as it relates to ad hoc development.