Shas­tri Boodan

Fe­lic­i­ty will be stag­ing one week of Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions in 2011. That was the promise from Ch­agua­nas West MP Jack Warn­er. He was speak­ing with re­porters on Di­vali night when he at­tend­ed cel­e­bra­tions in his con­stituen­cy. Warn­er, who walked the length and breath of the Cen­tral vil­lage, said he was im­pressed by the dis­plays arranged by vil­lagers. He said the com­mu­ni­ty must be able to share this with the rest of the coun­try. Warn­er said a week-long cul­tur­al cel­e­bra­tion, that should at­tract thou­sands, is in the cards for next year.

Ch­agua­nas May­or Or­lan­do Nages­sar said one of the many recre­ation grounds in Fe­lic­i­ty could be used to house a Di­vali vil­lage, dis­play­ing the life of the in­den­tured im­mi­grant work­ers. Nages­sar said the Min­istries of Tourism and Multi­ul­tur­al­ism should be the key play­ers in this project to pump the nec­es­sary funds that will make Di­vali Vil­lage 2011 a re­al­i­ty. Nages­sar said scores of for­eign­ers as well as thou­sands of lo­cal tourist flock to Fe­lic­i­ty an­nu­al­ly for Di­vali cel­e­bra­tions. He said the cel­e­bra­tions are fund­ed from com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers who dip in­to their own pock­ets to pur­chase lights, oil and deyas. He said state fund­ing was def­i­nite­ly need­ed for Di­vali to grow. Nages­sar said the project could very well boost the econ­o­my of the area dur­ing that pe­ri­od.

Poor familes promised new homes

Mean­while, two pover­ty strick­en fam­i­lies were of­fered as­sis­tance with hous­ing by Warn­er. The MP, who was al­so act­ing as Prime Min­is­ter at the time, vis­it­ed needy con­stituents and de­liv­ered ham­pers to five fam­i­lies on Di­vali. Warn­er said he hoped to im­prove the liv­ing con­di­tions of the fam­i­lies of Thako­roe Ad­heem and Narace David. The Ch­agua­nas West MP said the Ad­heem fam­i­ly, who live on the edge of the Ca­roni Swamp at Sumaria Trace, Char­lieville, would be re­lo­cat­ed if they de­sired.

He re­as­sured, how­ev­er, that they would still have ac­cess to earn­ing their liveli­hood of catch­ing and sell­ing the cas­cadu­ra. "It's their liveli­hood and we can't take that away from them." Warn­er al­so asked the David fam­i­ly whether they would like to be re­lo­cat­ed from their shack at John Pe­ter Road.