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Government to accommodate landless Nabaclis farmers
By Tajeram Mohabir
AGRICULTURE Minister, Mr. Robert Persaud yesterday announced that arrangements will be made to accommodate Nabaclis farmers who are not land owners but have been utilizing the access dam which was recently cleared.

Minister Persaud gave the undertaking while speaking to a group of farmers during a meeting convened at the East Coast community. He told the grouping that the proposed arrangement will be worked out by the Regional Administration and the Lands and Surveys Commission.

Accompanying the minister on a tour of Nabaclis, which was purposed to address any drainage and irrigation concerns residents there might have and to inspect the earthen embankment works being undertaken in the district by the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA), were Region Four Chairman, Mr. Clement Corlette, and NDIA Chief Executive Officer (Ag), Mr. Lionel Wordsword.

Among issues raised with the minister and his team was the apparent neglect of huge farming plots at President’s College, but Corlette, who elected to respond, assured residents that he will raise this particular matter with the school’s Board of Governors and urged instead that farmers make use of some of their own lands that are not in use.

And in response to queries as to what assistance those farmers who suffered losses due to flooding might expect, Minister Persaud reiterated that they will be given plants, seed materials along with advice from his extension officers. He also gave the assurance that the government will continue to enforce strict disciplinary measures to those found wanting, as they have done in the past when they had had negligent koker attendants dismissed.

He said, too, that the government is toying with the idea of establishing an agriculture insurance scheme, but that the local insurance companies are reluctant to buy into the plan, mainly because of the unpredictable weather pattern. Not to be deterred, however, he said that the initiative will be followed-up at the Regional level.

With respect to the earthen works being done in the community by NDIA, under the Agriculture Support Services Programme (ASSP), Wordsword noted that three excavators were currently being deployed to complete similar works in Golden Grove and Victoria, which are villages also located on the East Coast.

He explained that as part of the project, at least 60 per cent of the work must be completed to enable the rehabilitation of pumps and sluices in the Golden Grove, Nabaclis, and Victoria areas.

The NDIA boss also disclosed that the main channels at Friendship will also be dredged, but will be done in a different way, in that the excavated earth will be moved to another pre-arranged location.

The government has allocated some $15M to the repair of dams in the Buxton/Nabaclis areas to boost agricultural production, but Corlette noted that farmers utilizing areas in the backlands are obliged to pay rental which they have not done. He said efforts will be made to ensure they do and that the modalities will be worked out soon. That money, he said, will be used to maintain the access dams.

The cleared dams will allow farmers to access their farms, and will open-up some 2000 hectares of farmland critical to the improvement of their livelihood.

Minister Persaud assured the farmers that the clearing will be slowed when approaching Victoria so as to facilitate the harvesting of their crops.

He explained that the intention of the exercise is to get farmers to return to their farmlands, and that his ministry will be providing them with plants, seed materials as well as extension services so as to enable a speedy return to their livelihood.

According to him, it will also restore their economic viability and minimize the effects in the rise in food prices locally which is part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s newly-launched ‘Grow More’ campaign.

Killer dogs saga
Victim to be buried tomorrow or Tuesday
By Michel Outridge
RELATIVES of Charles Roopchand, the 54-year-old Lusignan resident who was slain Wednesday by a pack of hounds in the Ogle Airstrip Road neighbourhood while on his way to work, said yesterday they are still awaiting word from the Police as to what course of action will be taken against the animals and their owner.

The last the Chronicle heard was that the dogs, reportedly some eight to nine in number, and their owner, a well-known commercial pilot, are being held at Force Headquarters here in the city where they were relocated after being initially detained at the Sparendaam Station at Plaisance, which is in the jurisdiction of where the incident occurred.

Reports are, however, that the dogs’ owner has since been charged with manslaughter and was to have appeared in court Friday, but efforts yesterday to confirm either claim proved futile. Commander of ‘C’ Division, Mr. Leroy Brummel told the Chronicle Thursday that should police investigations prove the man was negligent, then charges were going to be laid against him.

As to the fate of the hounds, said to be a mixed bag of rottweilers, pit bulls, German shepherds, and ‘rice-eaters’, Brummel said they were still awaiting word from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on that score, but had gone ahead in the interim and tried to locate a safe-house in which to place the animals. They had also approached the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) for advice, he said.

When the matter was raised, however, with GSPCA President, Mr. Oliver Insanally, he said that it was not in their mandate to shelter dogs that have attacked and killed people; that that privilege was only accorded animals that were abandoned and mistreated by their owners.

Meanwhile, Roopchand’s eldest son, Michael, said yesterday that his father might be laid to rest either tomorrow or Tuesday, depending on how soon relatives residing abroad can arrive.

The grief-stricken young man said that his bedridden mother, who suffered a stroke some time ago, has since learnt of her husband’s demise and hasn’t stopped crying.

“She was brought home from Essequibo where she was staying, and we are still trying to comfort each other since the incident,” he said.

Michael said that since they received the dreadful news early Wednesday morning, an atmosphere of gloom and uncertainty has enveloped the family.

He said, however, that while he is pleased that COPS (Guyana) Ltd. where his father was employed for nine years, has pledged to support them in this their hour of need, he is hoping that justice will prevail since his dad was the sole breadwinner of the family of four.

As usual, Charles Roopchand left home around 05:00h on Wednesday for work.

He was walking along the Ogle Airstrip Access Road, East Coast Demerara, when he was attacked by a pack of dogs, including pit bulls, thrown to the ground, and savagely mauled to death.

Though Roopchand put up a valiant fight, yet still the animals managed to overpower him. When done with their savaging, they dragged his lifeless body to another location some distance from the road, and there stood guard over it as though wondering what to do next.

Roopchand was on his way to relieve a colleague who had worked the night shift at the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) cell site, a short distance away when the incident occurred.

The dogs had somehow managed to escape from the yard in which they were raised that fateful morning, but were eventually subdued by their owner, albeit after they had killed Roopchand and attacked and injured a woman who was out on an early-morning jog.

Guyana/Brazil to seal defence cooperation pact tomorrow
- during Brazil Defence Minister’s visit
THE Governments of Brazil and Guyana, in their continuous effort to improve on collaboration in various areas, will sign a cooperation agreement on defence later this month.

Head of the Presidential Secretariat and Cabinet Secretary Dr. Roger Luncheon made this disclosure Friday during his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing at the Office of the President.

According to the Government Information Agency (GINA), Dr. Luncheon said the signing will take place when Brazil’s Minister of Defence visits Guyana tomorrow, and that the agreement is part of a long-standing and mature relationship between the two governments.

That relationship, he said, is one that has over the decades seen the access of training, and more recently access to training on even more favourable grounds, for members of the military, “It is in that context that one sees the proposed cooperation on defence between Guyana and Brazil.”

Meanwhile, he also announced that the Defence Board has agreed to several issues at its recent meeting, including the naming of the Coast Guard main base in Ruimveldt as the Coast Guard Ship Hinds in honour of the late Col. Harry Basil Hinds for his dedicated and committed service to Maritime and Coast Guard developments.

The Cabinet Secretary told members of the media that a visiting team from the Nigerian War College will be in Guyana in May as guests of the Commander-in-Chief- and the military.

“Practically all of the 19 participants who would be here are active members and staff of the war college, and they will be here to continue a familiarity with defence considerations and national security doctrine in the Caribbean. They were in Trinidad and Tobago and Belize last year and they are following up with Haiti and Guyana this year,” Dr. Luncheon said.

Guyana has massive potential – UK tour operator
“THE potential is massive; you have got everything here that you simply need,” Phil Farmer, a British tour operator declared yesterday as he participated in the fifth tourism familiarisation trip for short which began at the Botanical Gardens, in Georgetown.

Eight international tour guides and one travel and wildlife journalist toured the gardens yesterday morning where they saw scores of fascinating birds, some of which are endemic to the Guiana Shield.

Andy Narine, a local birding expert, and Judy Karwacki of the Guyana Trade and Investment Support (GTIS), are leading the tour. Karwacki noted that familiarisation trips, or ‘Fam Trips’ as they are more popularly known, have been very successful to date, since over 30 international tour operators are currently selling, designing and bringing tours to Guyana.

Noting that Guyana is also now in every major birding publication in the United Kingdom, she said: “Everybody loves Guyana, they might not have known about it before, but since they have come they love it.”

The two birds that most captured the attention of the birders were the Blood- Coloured Woodpecker and the Festival Parrot.

While these fascinated the group, Karwacki said: “Of course, you could not help but be wowed by the dozens of macaws, parrots and other birds.”

One hundred and seventy-nine species of birds are located in the Botanical Gardens alone, out of a possible 200 species in Georgetown.

“I don’t think that I have ever been to any city that has so many birds as this. That’s one of the reasons why the Guyana Amazon Tropical Birding Society is trying to have Georgetown called: The City of Birds,” she said.

Farmer, who arrived a week ahead of the group, said the thing that impressed him the most was the pristine state of Guyana’s forest. He said he has not seen this anywhere else in South America.