Shas­tri Boodan

Mas­quer­aders tak­ing part in Car­ni­val cel­e­bra­tions in Cou­va will be get­ting more prize mon­ey this year.

The good news came from Ram­c­hand Ra­jbal-Maraj, the pres­i­dent of the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee.

He spoke with Guardian Me­dia on Sat­ur­day night when the com­mit­tee spon­sored a free show fea­tur­ing artiste from the TU­CO South Cen­tral tent.

The event took place at the Cou­va Pub­lic carpark.

Ra­jbal Maraj said the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee is ex­pect­ed to get around $300,000 from the NCC.

How­ev­er, he said busi­ness­es on the Point Lisas In­dus­tri­al Es­tate have not as yet re­spond­ed to calls for as­sis­tance.

He said the NCC has giv­en the first tranche of $190,000 which he said would go a long way to­wards pay­ing prize monies. in 2019 the com­mit­tee got on­ly $160,000.

Ra­jbal said he was hap­py that the po­lice had in­sti­tut­ed a ban on glass bot­tles. He aids J’ou­vert is go­ing to be big in Cou­va with 15 bands reg­is­tered to cross the stage.

Ra­jbal said Car­ni­val Tues­day is ex­pect­ed to be a treat since the 2002 medi­um steel­band champs, the NGC Cou­va Joy­lan­ders will be per­form­ing.

Cou­va South Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment Rudranath In­dars­ingh was at the show.

In­dars­ingh said he was hap­py with the in­crease of the sub­ven­tion from the NCC to the Cou­va Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee.

In­dars­ingh said he wants to see the ca­lyp­so­ni­ans speak out on so­cial is­sues fac­ing the pub­lic and bash the rul­ing regime with the same en­thu­si­asm they ham­mered the Peo­ple’s Part­ner­ship Gov­ern­ment. In­dars­ingh said he was hap­py to see an in­crease in po­lice pres­ence for cel­e­bra­tions. He said such a move should take place year-round in the fight against crime.

He urged par­ents to pay at­ten­tion to their chil­dren to en­sure they are not at­tacked by mo­les­ters and preda­tors.