Rambachan unhappy with stinking garbage problem; meeting officials Friday to discuss the probem

CNMG Photo: Garbage piles in Diego Martin ... no collection for three weeks

Local Government Minister Dr. Surujrattan Rambachan called in a private contractors on Thursday to remove piles of garbage that had been accumulating in Diego Martin for the past three weeks.

The removal of the garbage is the responsibility of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation. The Minister visited the area on Thursday morning and expressed his dissatisfaction with stinking pile of rubbish.

He told local media all he heard from officials were excuses. 

"What is very disturbing to me is that the officials from the Corporation, at both the level of the Chairman and the Councilors and also at the level of the CEO and the other officials who are in charge of collecting this garbage, are giving me one excuse after another and to tell me that this happens every Christmas and therefore this is to be expected," Rambachan said.

He added, "I think this is an unfortunate way to look at this. If this thing happens every Christmas then surely you know it's going to happen for the next one and things have to be put into place. So obviously there has been poor management of the garbage collection."

Rambachan has summoned officials to his office for a meeting Friday to discuss how to deal with the problem.

Rambachan told local media, "People pay taxes in this country and we have to give them the best quality service and this is not the kind of service people deserve. I intend to change that as the Minister responsible for Local Government and in this case, one aspect of it is the collection of garbage."

One official blamed the garbage problem on negligence by a contractor.