Farmer taking HDC to court over eviction notice

Farm lands at D'Abadie

A farmer from D'Abadie, east Trinidad, is going to court to stop the government from taking possession of the 25 acres of land that he claims he has cultivated for the past 30 years.

The president of the Trinidad Unified Farmers Association, Shiraz Khan, told reporters Saturday he has filed an injunction against the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), to block it from removing Deochand Sampath from the land.

Khan said Sampath owns the land and accused the HDC of trespassing. "The HDC came on Thursday and give him notice to quit by May 16," Khan said.

He also accused the minister of food production of betraying farmers. The minister, Senator Vasant Bharath, said last week that the state will have to amend current laws to allow squatters to be evicted in order to grow more food.

Read the story: Bharath wants to throw out squatters to make way for food production

"We are taking to court the issues of Mr Deochan Sampath's tenure on this parcel of land and we are going to ask the court to declare the action illegal," Khan said Saturday. "The State has trespassed and damaged crops belonging to Mr Sampath."

Khan said farmers wil march to the HDC's South Quay office on Monday to deliver a writ against them.

Read related story: Squatters demand $3M