Sto­ry by SHAS­TRI BOODAN

Ch­agua­nas Trav­el Agent, Ra­jive Dip­nar­i­nesingh, re­ports that for the last two weeks, his 30-year-old op­er­a­tion has been bom­bard­ed with calls for can­cel­la­tions.

Dip­nar­i­nesingh told Guardian Me­dia that the trav­el sit­u­a­tion was so bad that peo­ple had even can­celled flights to To­ba­go.

He warns that un­less gov­ern­ments de­fers the pay­ments of rates and tax­es, many busi­ness­es will fold-up.

And Dipc­hand Per­sad, CEO of Pas­sage to Asia, the largest Restau­rant in Ch­agua­nas and Cen­tral Trinidad, said he has had to let go most of his 80-plus staff mem­bers with­out pay.

Per­sad said the wage bill is sim­ply too high to main­tain with­out any in­come com­ing in.

He told Guardian Me­dia he is ex­plor­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a take away ser­vice, how­ev­er, he said this too may be very un­prof­itable, since his util­i­ty bills are high. He said elec­tric­i­ty alone costs around $20,000 a month with an ad­di­tion­al cost for $15,000 a month for wa­ter, phones and in­ter­net.

Dipc­hand Per­sad said in ad­di­tion, he has to pay an ex­or­bi­tant rent for a branch of his restau­rant that is lo­cat­ed on Aripi­ta Av­enue, Port of Spain.

He, too, warns that un­less tax­es and rates are de­ferred, his op­er­a­tion may just come to a crash­ing halt.

Mean­while, a cater­er em­ployed with the School Feed­ing Pro­gramme said she would be hap­py if the gov­ern­ment could lend some food sup­port to stu­dents who get school feed­ing lunch­es.

The cater­er said her em­ploy­ees are em­ployed on a day-by-day ba­sis and would wel­come the ex­tra work.