A number of squatters from crime hot spot, Crown Trace, Enterprise, were yesterday among 61 people who were given Certificates of Comfort (CoC) by the Land Settlement Agency (LSA).
The residents, many of them elderly, who have been living for decades on state lands, received their certificates amidst reports of the fatal shooting of fellow resident, Akmal Lynch, son of Enterprise Imam, Morland Abdullah. His elder brother, Akyel, was also wounded in the attack.
Chaguanas Mayor Gopaul Boodan, who addressed the recipients at a distribution function at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation, said: “A lot of people from Enterprise, Longdenville and other areas in Central received Certificates of Comfort. “Today is a happy day in the borough, regardless of the recent problems in the area highlighted in the national news.
“Some of the recipients said they have been living for 44 and 47 years on the lands.” Boodan said the Borough’s guiding philosophy was to have a happy community. He said another distribution would take place in the next week or two. LSA chairman, Nisha Mathura-Allahar, said squatters from Chaguanas East, Chaguanas West, Caroni Central and Tabaquite got certificates.
She said yesterday’s distribution was the seventh for the year and the 26th since 2010. Mathura-Allahar said the LSA was not just giving out certificates to people and leaving them at that stage. It is only the first stage in a process to give squatters official deeds of lease for lands they occupy, she said.
“It is a very valuable document and I hope you guard it well,” she said. At a PNM public meeting in Arima on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley chastised Land and Marine Resources Minister Jairam Seemungal for giving away state land. Rowley advised supporters to get rid of Seemungal if they wanted to protect state lands.
Seemungal was unable to attend yesterday’s ceremony in Chaguanas. Boodan responded to Rowley’s comments: “If this is not what a caring government does, then I want to know.”