Several residents of Yarrowkabra, community along the Soesdyke/Linden Highway, on Friday,
Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, picketed the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), asking the agency to rethink its decision to issue permission for a sandpit to a major construction company.The area for the sandpit has been granted to B.K. International but it will displace almost 40 women currently there and who are involved in making wood coals, the residents claimed yesterday during the exercise in front of GGMC’s Brickdam headquarters.Residents of Yarrowkabra protesting Friday outside the GGMC’s headquarters, Brickdam.The decision to grant the sandpit to B.K. has already seen objections from Bulkan Timber Works and Superior Shingles and Wood Products, two businesses that are operating in the nearby compound of the old glass factory.Bulkan and Superior Shingles had, earlier this year, objected to the decision of the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) not to require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the proposed sandpit, which it said would be mere feet away from its compound at Yarrowkabra and could affect its infrastructure. The old glass factory consists of several buildings.However, despite a public meeting on the issue, EAB has upheld the decision for no assessment, paving the way for B.K. to start sand mining.But the story has now taken another twist. Behind the Bulkan’s operations, almost 40 women from the Yarrowkabra have been using the odds and ends of the waste wood to burn coals. The coals are sold locally and even exported to Trinidad and Haiti. It is a $3M monthly operation, the women claimed yesterday. They have been told to move to make way for the sandpit.“Bulkan is the major employer of the Yarrowkabra area providing almost 90 per cent of the jobs. We have single mothers of Yarrowkabra who have been doing this for years and who are now being told to move,” says Dennis Huntley, a resident of the area.He explained that Bulkan’s objection to the sandpit led to a community meeting with EAB but it ended without any resolutions as things became raucous. Since then, there has been silence.ThreatenedAccording to Michael Carrington, another resident,
Cheap Jerseys USA, the Yarrowkabra Coal Miners Association, which has been registered, has been applying for the land in the area for years now.“This particular area for the sandpit has been earmarked for an industrial zone. The association never did receive a reply from the Guyana Lands and Surveys. It is really puzzling to learn that the women are being told to move now and the lands given to B.K. Where will they go?”Carrington noted that there are other lands available in the area.“If these persons have to go to cut wood from the forest and then take it to another place, that is a cost. These are poor people. We are asking GGMC and Government to intervene…to talk to us.”The residents said that they understand that B.K. was granted around 19 acres for the sandpit.“We don’t know…that is what we are being told.”Another woman is worried as she has four children and is a single mother. She was laid off from Barama Company Limited,
China NFL Jerseys, a plywood making company, at Land of Canaan, East Bank Demerara.She has been living in Yarrowkabra for over 15 years. “This is what I do. There are others who make use of the opportunity of the free wood from Bulkan to burn the coals. We now get a letter to move.”Kaieteur News was told that a significant number of the coal burners are single mothers who would face severe hardships if they are indeed forced to move.A mother of four who faces losing her livelihood at Yarrowkabra.On Friday,
Cheap Jerseys Free, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, released a statement from the EAB which said that a public hearing on the Bulkan’s complaints was held on May 9.EAB said that the proposed sand mine is approximately 7.8 hectares (19 acres) and is considered by GGMC and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) to be small scale.“It is the established practice of the EPA to assign a ‘No EIA Required’ status for sand mines of less than 60 acres. This precedent is based on the Code of Practice for Sand and Saprolite (Loam) Mining on the Soesdyke Linden Highway, Section 1.2 which states that “All sand/loam mines of over 60 acres must obtain Environmental Authorizations from EPA prior to being issued licences from GGMC.””No threatsEAB said that the area in which the proposed sand mine is located has been zoned for such activities with many small-scale sand mines already in operation in the approximate environs. “There is sufficient distance/area between the appellant’s (Bulkan) property and the proposed sand mine to allow the establishment of a buffer that would mitigate
