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alexk
Guest
Some 60 Rio Claro and Mayaro woodworkers (licensees) who purchase trees through the Forestry Division are begging Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to help them.
The licensees are claiming that they have been unable to purchase or sell the trees to earn an income to support themselves and their families for almost two months.
During a placard demonstration in front the Rio Claro office yesterday, Imtiaz Mohammed said on June 20 during a meeting with Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambarat and the Conservator of Forests, a directive was given to a senior officer attached to the Rio Claro office to start processing the paper work to allow the licensees to buy the trees and remove the trees which they have already purchased.
Licensee Imtiaz Mohammed complained that the officials at the Rio Claro office are failing to comply with this directive.
He claimed they are still failing to accept their applications, stamp the trees and issue permits to them to remove the trees.
He said, “The other problem is it have officers sitting in the office here failing to give us permits to remove the wood that we already purchased and have by the road. In that order, we cannot make back the money that we invest...plenty people here have no salary, no form of income without getting these wood move out from there and is just a simple thing as a little document for the ranger to write for us.
Faiz De-Grilla, vice president of the T&T Workers Cooperative Society, said they had also set up a meeting on Friday to discuss the alleged bribery.
“We want to put an end to this once and for all. We fed up with the victimisation, we fed up with the extortion and exploitation. We just had had enough. We are asking the Prime Minister to intervene.”
Complaining that they are unable to pay bills and care for their families, Alimool Rahim, who is also an imam, pleaded, “We are pleading once again to the minister who has done a very professional job and the head of forestry who has done a professional job to stand up on your feet and stand for what is right and give us what is just due for us .”
When contacted, the minister said a team of officers will be visiting the office today.
He said, “This is an issue dating back several years. I have been meeting with the woodworkers for over a year and in May 2018 we settled all the issues. The end result is that we have more licensed woodcutters and all of them have forested areas where they can access trees. They reached out to me to complain that the Forestry Division office in Rio Claro is not processing there documents quickly enough.
“A team headed by the Deputy Conservator of Forests and including the Assistant Conservator of Forests and Forester 3 for the area are going to the Rio Claro office to resolve these issues. The issue of lack of productivity at that Rio Claro office is a complaint I continuously receive from the public.”
Rambarat said he has brought these issues to the Conservator of Forests.