Dirty surroundings trigger alarm in City Hall
Guyana Chronicle
July 6, 2004
CITY Hall is alarmed at the dirty state of some parts of the city and wants citizens to take greater care in keeping their surroundings clean.
As part of a new campaign, city officers will from today check Kitty/Campbellville for dirty yards, lack of garbage bins and other `unhealthy practices’, the council has announced.
In a press release, the Mayor and City Council said concern was triggered after recent routine inspections by officials of the Public Health Department of two communities – Laing Avenue and Alberttown.
“Inspections of the locations revealed some of the most deplorable conditions under which children and adults live”, the council said.
It said that in Laing Avenue, several broken water mains were discovered, strapped with old tyre tubes and pieces of cloth, lying in drains filled with human excreta and other debris.
“Of more serious concern is the utilisation of one septic tank by as many as five residents in Laing Avenue”, the council said.
It said this “unhealthy practice” has caused a serious overflow of faeces and toilet tissue, posing a serious health hazard to children and adults.
In the Alberttown area, one particular home had a huge pile of garbage reaching about 10 feet high from ground level, City Hall said.
It issued a special appeal to all citizens to desist from such unhealthy practices and work towards creating a litter-free and safe environment for all.
The council said it was also concerned over the manner in which some citizens and business entities, especially in the Bourda and Lacytown areas, disregard municipal laws and continue to practise indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the city.
It said that while employees of the Mayor and City Council effectively clean sections of the city, hours after, some citizens continue in the habit of dumping, making the appearance of the tidied area exceedingly worse than before.
As a result of this negative action, the council said it will intensify its campaign against litterbugs “with the deployment of more officers at strategic points in the city to apprehend those who indulge in such negative practice.”
It urged all citizens to be on the lookout for those who are bent on this illegal practice and report such activities to its Public Relations Department on telephone number 225-2218.
In another release, the council that Town Clerk, Ms. Beulah Williams, last week met the Medical Officer of Health, the City Treasurer, the Clerk of Markets, the Director of Solid Waste Management and other city officials, to discuss a strategic approach to abate the nuisances of accumulations of refuse, indiscriminate dumping and the unsanitary conditions of many yards, in different wards.
It stressed that a “noticeable number of yards are untidy with weeds, bushes, and long grass, pieces of old woods, builder waste, and many other undesirables.”
“It was observed that many owners/occupiers have neglected to ensure the provision of the required refuse receptacles on their premises, for the proper disposal of waste. The Municipal and District Council Act, Chapter 28:01 stipulates that the owners/occupiers of houses have a civic obligation to provide the appropriate receptacle to dispose of their waste”, the council said.
It noted that the Public Health Ordinance Chapter 145 states: “The owner or occupier of any premises shall at all times keep his premises clean and free from house and garden refuse, garbage, filth of any kind and all other refuse whatsoever whether offensive or not”.
“In the circumstances, the administration has instructed that arrangements be put in place to do an inter-departmental project in the Kitty/Campbellville area from (today). The focus will be on the provision of refuse receptacles, dirty yards and other defective sanitary system”, the council said.
City Hall also announced that the Meat and Food Inspectorate will examine all restaurants, provision shops and cook shops, for the relevant medical certification and other public health standards.