The Government’s plan to construct a new 720-megawatt power plant in Barataria is being strongly resisted by approximately 60 small farmers who fear being relocated. On March 19, Minister of Public Utilities Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, during a post Cabinet news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, stated Cabinet had agreed to build the plant in Barataria by mid-2011, to replace the existing one at Wrightson Road. Abdul-Hamid said after careful consideration, the Government had allocated a 15-hectare parcel of state land in Barataria, south of the Beetham Highway and south west of the Barataria flyover for the plant. Close to 60 farmers have been cultivating on these lands.
Standing on a slope at the edge of the Barataria river bank, farmer Anand Gosein said while the Government was putting measures in place for the plant, the farmers were the last to be informed or consulted. Gosein said no one had officially informed them that the 60 acres of state land, which they have been cultivating, will be used for the plant. “Nobody saying anything. Everything is being kept a big secret. “Why should we be the last to know? This is so typical of the Government. At the last minute they will come and take the lands from us,” said Gosein. The farmers found out about the plant via the newspapers, they said.
Their fears over relocation were confirmed when they saw workers from Trintoplan doing a number of tests in the area over the last few weeks. The murky Barataria river separates the farmers who cultivate on the western and eastern sides of the bank. Each farmer pays the Government $9 annually for land tax. Having left his job as a fire officer to plant, Gosein said he was now having regrets. Gosein said what was even more disconcerting was the lands tested by the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, showed it was the third best soil in north Trinidad. “So they taking arable lands to build a plant. That making sense? “Despite the problems we facing, we really don’t want to move because the area is ideal.”
‘Criminals licking up sales’
Last Wednesday, the farmers, worry and uncertainty etched on their faces, said the news came at a time when they were most vulnerable to thieves, who have been going on a rampage, carting away crops, farm equipment, drip hoses and chemicals. Two weeks ago, Gosein said, thieves uprooted 300 pounds of fully grown cauliflower, one-third of which they trampled upon after they could not carry it out of the fields. This was not the first time Gosein was robbed. A few months ago, while carrying out a variety of produce from his shack, Gosein returned to see a thief brandishing a cutlass, telling him to hand over his money, wristwatch and cellphone. Across the river, Gosein said, he heard that four farmers were stripped naked and robbed by gun-toting thieves recently.
Using a cutlass to swipe shrubs around his field, a greying Rudolph Ragoonath said thieves stole three beds of celery valued $15,000 this month. “These criminals lick me up real sad. They have no mercy. They waiting until you leave to take your crops,” Ragoonath complained. Ragoonath said every week farmers were targeted. He said while some farmers did not experience any drought, they had to battle with the criminal elements. “When you look at it, you end up losing every time.” Ragoonath said with food prices soaring, the thieves were stealing the most expensive crops and selling it on the wholesale markets.
Uprooting weeds from her ten-acre parcel of land, 64-year-old Sumintra Rampersad is resisting any movement. She said it was her livelihood; that after a horrible marriage it was farming that put her life back on track. “I never went to school. From small you had to work and then it was marriage right after. Farming running through my veins. I can’t give it up,” said Rampersad. Nolly Lackhansingh, who worked the fields as a child, said he had no problem moving once the Government compensated and relocated him. “Is too much of pressure. Every day you on the edge not knowing what next will happen,” 34-year-old Lackhansingh said.
Powergen in dark
Adrian Benjamin, corporate communications officer at Powergen, on Friday stated the farmers were not the only ones who were not informed about the plant’s establishment by the authorities. “The thing is, we (Powergen) knew nothing of it. We found out about the plant the same way the farmers did. We are waiting to find out what’s going to happen so we could try to address it,” said Benjamin.
By: Shaliza Hassanali
Via: Trinidad Guardian