SHARLENE RAMPERSAD
An 83-year-old Gran Couva woman is living in fear that her home will collapse around her.
Nageeran Ramdial said a landslide along the roadway in front of her home destroyed her daughter’s home several months ago and is now threatening hers.
She said the landslip was caused by a leaking Water and Sewage Authority (WASA) pipeline but the authority has denied this, saying their line was damaged by the shifting earth.
Guardian Media visited Ramdial earlier this week after heavy rains over the weekend caused the earth to shift more.
As she pointed out the dirt pushing against the pillars holding up her home, Ramdial said she lives alone as her husband died four years ago.
She said she suffers from various ailments and the stress of the impending collapse of her home has become unbearable.
“The water water came down and break down my daughter house and now it come down in mine and all the pillars just shift,” she said.
“I living in fear because is I alone here and the boy does be here with me but he don’t be here all the time,” she added.
Her son, Jaglal lives a short distance away and his home too was being threatened by the landslide.
He said his home now has massive cracks in the floor. An extension he constructed sometime ago was also on the verge of collapsing.
“Months now a house right there fall down and watch where I living, if they had come to do something in all those months, all this problem would not happen,” Jaglal said.
He said employees of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation brought crushed material to backfill the space created by the landslide but heavy rains over the weekend caused the material to shift and sink.
“From Friday to Saturday, it dropped more than two feet and it continue dropping so at least, somebody have to do something,” he appealed.
Like his mother, Jaglal blamed a leaking WASA pipeline but he said if the drains constructed along the roadway were done properly, the slippage would not have been so bad.
“The whole drain break away and going, the whole road caving in, cars could hardly pass here,” he said.
As he spoke, a woman who came to visit one of his neighbours expressed shock at the state of the roadway. The woman said she would park before the landslide and walk to her destination.
“Watch what she have to do, people afraid to drive on that. I waiting to see what will happen to all the people that live in the community when the road finally break down,” Jaglal said.
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What WASA said
Guardian Media contacted WASA’s corporate communications officer Daniel Plenty for comment.
He said the leak was “discovered and isolated” on July 3.
“Repairs commenced on 8th July and was completed on 12th July 2022. Note that the Authority also has no previously existing report of this leak,” Plenty said.
Guardian Media also reached out to Works and Transport Minister Rohan Sinanan but he did not respond to calls or messages.