Food Production Minister Vasant Bharath and his cabinet colleague, Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal, are expected to meet with farmers Thursday to try to resolve an impasse over lands at D'Abadie and Chaguanas.
Bulldozers from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) moved in and wrecked crops on the lands over the Easter holidays, causing Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who was in Brazil at the time, to order the HDC to stop the bulldozing.
Since her return home she has received a brief on the matter from both ministers and she has asked them to meet with the farmers to try to find a solution to the problem.
Last week Moonilal offered the farmers compensation at market prices for the crops that were destroyed and also said he would consider alternative lands for farming.
The farmers agreed to take the money but said they won't move from their lands, which they say they have occupied for more than a decade and as long as 30 years in some instances.
Now they have produced a document that they say proves that the HDC acted illegally in bulldozing the lands.
They claim the document dated March 24 and signed by a representative of the Commissioner of State Lands could give them rights to more than 153 acres of State lands in Egypt Trace, Enterprise.
Shiraz Khan, president of the Sheep and Goat Farmers Association, showed the media the three-page document signed that states:
"The bulldozing operations being conducted by the HDC is...illegal and should cease immediately. Destruction of farmers' crops by the HDC and compensation for the same might be an issue."
In addition it said the farmers had been occupying the lands for a long time and the "landlord failed to evict them in a timely manner", which nullified the quit notices served on the 42 farmers.
Khan said the documents show that the lands were not vested by the State to the HDC. In addition it recommended that the "regularisation of their tenancies should be considered if the State decides to retain the lands for agriculture."
Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was quoted in the Express newspaper as saying that the wording in the document gives the farmers legal access to the land.
"Even if the farmers were occupying State lands, they (the State) did not do anything to stop them for years. That gives the farmers equitable rights," he told the paper.
The Commissioner of state lands has not confirmed the authenticity of the document and Bharath told the Express he does not know if the document is legitimate.
Bulldozers from the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) moved in and wrecked crops on the lands over the Easter holidays, causing Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who was in Brazil at the time, to order the HDC to stop the bulldozing.
Since her return home she has received a brief on the matter from both ministers and she has asked them to meet with the farmers to try to find a solution to the problem.
Last week Moonilal offered the farmers compensation at market prices for the crops that were destroyed and also said he would consider alternative lands for farming.
The farmers agreed to take the money but said they won't move from their lands, which they say they have occupied for more than a decade and as long as 30 years in some instances.
Now they have produced a document that they say proves that the HDC acted illegally in bulldozing the lands.
They claim the document dated March 24 and signed by a representative of the Commissioner of State Lands could give them rights to more than 153 acres of State lands in Egypt Trace, Enterprise.
Shiraz Khan, president of the Sheep and Goat Farmers Association, showed the media the three-page document signed that states:
"The bulldozing operations being conducted by the HDC is...illegal and should cease immediately. Destruction of farmers' crops by the HDC and compensation for the same might be an issue."
In addition it said the farmers had been occupying the lands for a long time and the "landlord failed to evict them in a timely manner", which nullified the quit notices served on the 42 farmers.
Khan said the documents show that the lands were not vested by the State to the HDC. In addition it recommended that the "regularisation of their tenancies should be considered if the State decides to retain the lands for agriculture."
Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj was quoted in the Express newspaper as saying that the wording in the document gives the farmers legal access to the land.
"Even if the farmers were occupying State lands, they (the State) did not do anything to stop them for years. That gives the farmers equitable rights," he told the paper.
The Commissioner of state lands has not confirmed the authenticity of the document and Bharath told the Express he does not know if the document is legitimate.
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