Truck driver Kimchan Singh and his family evacuated their Princes Town home a year ago to allow contractors to fix a landslip near their home.
Now that the landslip repairs are almost complete, Singh's sprawling two-storey home is on the verge of collapse and his family is facing homelessness.
The house which was once filled with the laughter of his four children–Sascha, 13, Darian, 10, Gaitri, seven and Randy, five–has sunk about 20 feet into a depression.
The staircase is crumbling and the walls of the house have huge cracks. The front of the house appears to be lower than the back and the porch is overgrown with weeds. The front yard remains littered with plates of steel and pipes from the construction project.
St Croix Road near Jaipaulsingh Road has now become single lane and a house on top of the hill close to the Singh's residence is being undermined by the landslip. Two other houses which also collapsed during the construction project are being rebuilt.
In an interview, Singh said, in August last year, he agreed to relocate his family to Mansingh Trace, Barrackpore, to allow the Government to fix the landslips which caused major erosion along St Croix Road.
"The Government in 2015 agreed to pay my rent until the landslip is completed. Now I cannot move back home because the house is falling down and it is not safe for my family," Singh lamented.
Singh, who works with Southern M Construction Services in Barrackpore, said the heavy machinery, which operated at close proximity to the building, caused the house to collapse.
"I have photographs of the excavator and backhoes right up to the house."
His wife, Nadia Singh, said last week an official from the Programme for Upgrading Roads Efficiency (PURE) unit contacted his landlord Noel Ali and informed him that they will no longer be paying the family's rent.
Nadia said her husband works only four days per week and his salary was not enough to pay rent, send their four children to school and put food on their table. Sascha attends the Barrackpore East Secondary School while her siblings attend Lengua Presbyterian Primary.
Saying she was very worried about their future, Nadia said it was painful to lose the house which they called home for 15 years.
"We really don't have anywhere else to go. We want to move back home but this house could fall down anytime," Nadia said.
She is calling on the Government to pay them for their losses so they can find a proper place to live. Nadia also said the contractor should rebuild their home as renting for the rest of their lives was not an option.
?MP responds
MP for Naparima, Rodney Charles, has called on Works Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to assist the family.
"It appears that the home of the Singh family was adversely affected by the work done by PURE on the landslip adjacent to their home located on St Croix Road near Jaipaulsingh Road," Charles said.
He added that two other homes similarly affected have been rebuilt and it was unfortunate that the Singh family has not been similarly treated.
"He, his wife and four children are being left in this rainy season to survive as best they could with no help from the State. As MP for Naparima, I am calling on this Government, and Minister Fitzgerald Hinds in particular, to help the Singh family who have worked hard to build their home."
Several attempts were made to contact Hinds but calls to his cellular phone went unanswered.