Seventy-six-year-old Lenora Rodriguez now faces life on the street. Rodriguez, who is disabled, was one of many squatters at Old Trainline, King’s Wharf, San Fernando, who was served with an eviction notice to vacate her shack yesterday. The notices were served after a directive was given by the San Fernando City Corporation to remove the squatters to facilitate the first phase of the multi-million-dollar San Fernando Waterfront Beautification Project, which would include a boardwalk, a restaurant and other recreational fixtures.
Residents yesterday vented their anger and burned tyres in protest as city officials, accompanied by police, began sticking notices on their wooden shacks. It is not the first time squatters have had to move from the slum, as former mayor Gerard Ferreira relocated some during his tenure. But some remained and new squatters have since taken up residence.
Defiantly tearing down the notices, some squatters went to City Hall in protest and sent a message to San Fernando mayor Dr Navi Muradali that they were not moving. The notices said the shacks contravened Section 168 (a) of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1990, which implies that they constructed homes on state lands without approval from the council. Squatters were given up to May 29 to give sufficient reason why their shacks were built or they would be demolished at their expense.
Rodriguez, who hasn’t seen outside her plywood shack for the past five years, lay on a small, dirty mattress while officials stuck the notice on her door. She has to rely on a neighbour to provide food and water, which is stored in styrofoam containers and two-litre plastic bottles. “I am not feeling good at all because I have nowhere else to go,” Rodriguez said.
“A fella comes to bring tea and food for me, but I have not been able to walk for the last five years. “I have nowhere to go, no family or anything. I’m feeling bad now because I have to study where I can go and I can’t even move to go look for somewhere.” Glenn Pierre said his mother, 83-year-old Marjorie Pierre, was also disabled and had been served with a notice.
Muradali responds
In an interview yesterday, San Fernando mayor Dr Navi Muradali said: “The San Fernando City Council took a decision two weeks ago to serve notices and subsequently demolish the illegal and unsightly shacks along Kings Wharf. “The decision was further compounded by the information that these shacks were also being used as drug dens to house drugs and weapons.
“The council unanimously advised the Building Department to serve notices along the line and King’s Wharf and all other illegal structures along the waterfront.” He said information was gathered from a Sunday Guardian report from September 2011, which headline read “King’s Wharf occupants raided.” The story reported that the Defence Force and Special Anti-Crime Unit swooped down on King’s Wharf and found drugs and firearms there during the state of emergency.