RADHICA DE SILVA
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Employees of the Ministry of Works Licensing Division are expressing concern about the planned reopening of the licensing offices, saying not enough of them have been vaccinated to facilitate a safe reopening.
All offices from the Licensing Division are set to open soon, after being closed on May 23 because of COVID-19 restrictions.
But staff say they are worried about the reopening, which is tentatively carded for July 12.
"Many people are not comfortable. They feel the COVID infections are still high. They want the offices to stay closed at least for another month until the majority of the staff are vaccinated,” one senior officer said.
The officer also said that the appointment booking system has not worked well.
"We do not know whether walk-ins will be facilitated. We do not know how the operations will be rolled out, but we are baffled as to why they would want to reopen the Licensing offices now," he said.
Another worker said she planned to take all of her vacation time to avoid reporting for duty.
"I believe they should have kept the offices closed for another month so that more employees from the Transport Division could be vaccinated," she said.
When Guardian Media visited the San Fernando office, a sign saying "Closed until Further Notice" still hung from the gates.
The maintenance staff was on the compound doing work in preparation for the reopening.
But in an interview with Guardian Media, Transport Commissioner Clive Clarke said July 12th has not yet been confirmed as the date of reopening for the public.
He said discussions are still underway and final approval has to be granted.
Clarke said when the offices are finally reopened, services will be rolled out on a phased basis.
He noted that an internal memo circulating was meant to prepare employees for the eventual reopening.
"We believe that we must be ready to treat the current situation. We are asking all staff to report for work because it is necessary to ensure that we have the preparation done, and a proper roster,” the Transport Commissioner explained.
“We have to ensure that our systems are working because a number of our systems are computerized. We also need to ensure that all COVID-19 protocols are in place," he said.
Commissioner Clarke could not say how many employees from the Licensing Division have been vaccinated already.
He noted that vaccinations are not mandatory but noted that the Ministry of Health has made provisions to vaccinate staffers.
Asked what the thinking was behind the planned reopening, Clarke said with the borders set to reopen, some travellers may need their permits renewed before they could go abroad.
He noted that the Ministry of Works and Transport has extended the validity of drivers permits so renewal will be done on a phased basis.
"We want to cut down on the crowd. We have serious challenges. We have situations where people are travelling because of borders opening. We cannot serve some and leave them out. Whenever we are open, it will be on a phased basis and you will know what services will be offering," he said.
The Transport Commission noted that even though limited appointments will be allowed in the initial stage, more appointment spaces will be rolled out.
"From the time we get full approval to open, we will have staff on standby to open appointments so you will see appointments showing up later on," he added.
Appointments for the renewal of the permits are currently blocked as the Licensing Division attempts to control crowds once its offices are opened.