kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Seven years after former Siparia Regional Corporation labourer Neru Joseph was rendered disabled by an occupational accident, and two days after he levied on the Corporation, funds were found to settle his compensation.
As the political wrangling between the UNC and PNM caucuses continued at the corporation over who was to blame, chairman Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh said that permission has been given by the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government to use unspent funds for the past 10 years to settle Joseph’s $700,000 claim.
The unspent balances for that period totaled $3.45 million. Ramadharsingh said the Corporation will now be able to retrieve the vehicles that were seized by Joseph on Tuesday. However, insiders said that the Corporation has three weeks to make a full payment to Joseph or else he can liquidate the vehicles. Given the process of acquiring the unspent balances, they believe it cannot be done in three weeks.
On Tuesday, an agent of Joseph, a high court marshall and workers of Inland and Offshore Contractors Ltd (IOCL) went to the Corporation’s compound along High Street, Siparia and seized five vehicles. The seizure came 11 months after Master Patricia Sobion-Awai ordered the Corporation to pay Joseph $650,000 in damages and cost of $50,000. She ordered that five payments of $140,000 be paid monthly from June 1, 2017, which the corporation failed to adhere to.
Councillor Doodnath Mayrhoo said that since July 2017, the corporation has only received subvention for the payment of salaries, wages and scavenging. Council members were expected to bring a resolution to the matter at yesterday’s statutory meeting.
Despite the finance department identifying the funds that could have been used to pay off Joseph before Tuesday’s seizure, UNC councillors voted against a motion to use a virement to acquire the funds.
Yesterday, they explained that the funds identified was only allocated funds and was not money they already had in their account. A motion was raised by councillor Shankar Teelucksingh to request supplemental funding from the Ministry of Finance of $795,000 to include other necessary fees. Ramadharsingh said that they found that the administration had failed at several levels in submitting the relevant documents relating to Joseph’s injury, which resulted in them being sued and as their vehicles seized. Therefore, he said a request was made for the Ministry to investigate what went wrong.