RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

They have worked hard all their life hop­ing to have com­fort in their twi­light years.

But now, two pen­sion­ers from the re­mote com­mu­ni­ty of Charu­ma Vil­lage are liv­ing in fear as a land­slip threat­ens their homes.

Nan­dranie Nand­lal and Sylvie Rago­b­ar have been beg­ging for help over the past year, af­ter a land­slip de­vel­oped in front of their homes at 60 Charu­ma Junc­tion Trace, Tabaquite Road, Rio Claro.

Show­ing gap­ing cracks in­side her home, Nand­lal said she was ter­ri­fied of stay­ing in­side be­cause of the con­stant cracks and creaks.

“It is scary stay­ing here at night. I had to call my son Roshan to stay with me. He is a nurse and he left his home at Rio Claro to stay here be­cause I am too afraid to stay in this house by my­self,” Nand­lal said. 

Her hus­band died four years ago and Nand­lal said she nev­er imag­ined the home they built to­geth­er would one day be threat­ened by a land­slip.

She said the front path­way has be­come raised and the low­er por­tion of the house sinks dai­ly.

“If you look, you will see wa­ter run­ning down the hill. There is a duck pond there and it is full. It means wa­ter is run­ning,” she said. 

Mean­while, Nand­lal’s neigh­bour Rago­b­ar, 75, said she too was wor­ried that her home would cave in­to the land­slip.

“If I fall ill, how will they come here to take me to the hos­pi­tal?” she whis­pered.

She said her son had to go to work and was forced to tra­verse on the slip­ping road­way dai­ly.

“We need to get the road fixed. Charu­ma Junc­tion Trace, Tabaquite Road is the main road. If they don’t fix it, where will we pass,” Rago­b­ar said?

MP for Ma­yaro Rush­ton Paray agreed that the road was in dire need of re­pairs. Half of it has al­ready caved and the oth­er side is cracked.

“The Min­istry of Works did a re­tain­ing wall about 10 years ago but it failed,” Paray said.

Con­tact­ed for com­ment, Min­is­ter of Works Ro­han Sinanan said he will for­ward the com­plaint to the Bridges, Land­slip and Traf­fic Di­vi­sion of the min­istry, which will in­ves­ti­gate the mat­ter.