Reporters asked her about the matter Sunday night on her return from a five-day business trip to Brazil. “I have not been briefed on this matter and I think it will be very inappropriate for me to give any detailed comment," she said.
“You will recall when the matter came to my attention, I instructed that the bulldozers stop and that meetings be held with the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Food Production in order to find a solution, to find the best way forward.”
She added, “When I get a full briefing from my ministers. Then I will be better able to answer your question and that shouldn’t take very long.”
Reporters also had questions about the matter for Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal who was among the ministers who welcomed the Prime Minister home. He spoke about a land use policy..
“The matter was raised during the meeting we had last Thursday with the delegation of farmers and both the Ministry of Food Production and the Ministry of Planning...made a commitment to accelerate the work on that,” Moonilal said.
Bharath, who was also at the airport, declined comment on the demand by farmers for Moonilal apologise for the bulldozing of crops. “That is up to the minister and the agency involved. I’d rather not comment on that,” Bharath said. Moonilal has already said there is need for an apology from him.
Reporters wanted to know is Bharath supports a proper land use policy. Bharath suggested that since he and Moonilal have different mandates - one to build houses, the other to develop agriculture - there will be conflict until "we get a definitive policy on which land we can use for either".
Bharath said his job is "to make sure that we develop agriculture in TT. My job is to make sure that I have the commitment of all concerned with the development of agriculture and that’s what I’ve been doing."
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