Environmentalist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh, who is into his eighth day of a hunger strike today, says he is willing to go to New York to meet with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to discuss his latest proposal for the Mon Desir to Debe part of the Point Fortin Highway. Persad-Bissessar, along with Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Dookeran, is in New York attending the 69th United Nations General Assembly meeting.
Speaking with reporters as he sat under a tent pitched opposite the road to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), St Clair, yesterday, Kublalsingh said he believed in New York he would be able to get a fair hearing with Persad-Bissessar. “She would be with persons whom we would respect, such as (Winston) Dookeran, (Larry) Howai and (Vasant) Bharath, so I think she would be able to talk to us genuinely and sincerely as she wants to and without the insertion of others, who have vested interests in this project.
“It is a wonderful opportunity for her to respond, for we have a wonderful way out of the crisis. It is a win-win situation,” he said. Kublalsingh, however, claimed his passport had expired and he did not have a US visa, asking at the same time for Persad-Bissessar to assist him in acquiring both documents should she decide to meet with him in New York.
The letter requesting the urgent meeting was hand-delivered by Kublalsingh, Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah and Paula Lucie-Smith, founder and CEO of the Adult Literacy Tutors Association of T&T, to the OPM for acting Prime Minister Errol McLeod. Abdulah, who stands in solidarity with Kublalsingh, thinks Government should halt all work on the highway.
“Just as the Government has argued and the PM has said that Kublalsingh should take no action until the courts decide, I think that the Government should take no action while the court is deciding and should halt all work as recommended by the Armstrong Committee,” he said.
Abdulah explained that the new proposal by Kublalsingh suggested that there should not be a four-lane highway constructed between Mon Desir and Debe but there may be connector roads which will deal with traffic problems. “This proposal seems eminently reasonable and sound because it will resolve the traffic problems with people from Siparia and Debe”.
Former chairman of the Association of Local Government Bodies, attorney Lennox Sankersingh, also visited Kublalsingh yesterday. He said if anything went tragically wrong with Kublalsingh’s hunger strike, there would be a stain left on the conscience of all the people of T&T. Kublalsingh, who was all smiles yesterday, said his spirit was strong at the moment.
