Bare Root is a community off the Public Road of the East Coast of Demerara. It started as a squatting community, as people sought to make use of the available lands that were not disputed, and must have been farm lands aback of Bachelor's Adventure.

It is almost as old as the South Sophia squatting area, and its population is almost as large. In South Sophia, there are schools and community centres. In Bare Root, there are no schools or community centres. In South Sophia, there is potable water in almost every section; and more recently, that community was provided with electricity. There are no such facilities in Bare Root. Yesterday, during a visit to that community, Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Priya Manickchand, found that there were no social services, and she empathised with the people.

Daycare facilities are as commonplace as shops and roads, but there is none in Bare Root, where the people work just like any other in this country. There are nurses, teachers, public servants and farmers living in Bare Root. Many others are cane cutters, and they all have children. This situation is forcing many mothers to forego work. They have to take their children to and from nursery and primary schools situated more than a mile away, and they are not as affluent as their counterparts in other countries, who have ready transportation.

Building a nursery school would not cost much, and one would expect that the coming budget would have the necessary provisions for such a facility. To force people to remove themselves from the productive areas of the country is nothing short of criminal.

Why this situation is allowed to continue is easy to understand. When the gunmen prevailed in Buxton, there were reports that they moved between Buxton and Bare Root. There were rumours of an impending attack on the neighbouring community of Enterprise , to the extent that the soldiers set up a camp between the two communities. But the deed had already been done. The word had gone abroad that Bare Root was a dangerous place, and therefore not worthy of any expenditure to improve the community. This is ridiculous, because it means that an entire community is criminalised although the authorities have acknowledged that a very small percentage of the population comprises bad people, and that the overwhelming majority of Guyanese are decent, law-abiding citizens.

Potable water, something that is a given in most communities, is almost as scarce as good gold, but the pipelines run in every street. The only problem is the connection. This is dangerous because, while the Guyana Water Inc is constantly imploring people to refrain from breaking pipelines, it has done nothing to ease the plight of the people of Bare Root.

Reasonable people now walk long distances for a bucket of water, knowing that the precious commodity flows outside their doors in pipelines that lead elsewhere. When asked about their immense tolerance, the people's response imply that they expect their just deserts and they want to avoid a confrontation.

Minister Shaik Baksh, at the instigation of the people, actually took the pipelines to Bare Root, and paid contractors to have them laid. But that was as far as the situation went. Dazzell Housing Scheme, which sprang up long after Bare Root, and is located in the same community, enjoys all the social amenities which are denied Bare Root. It is not difficult to imagine the thoughts that would run through those people, who watch development talking place all around them whilst passing them by. People in Bare Root steal electricity. Some enterprising individual simply tapped into the power lines that run from outside their community and set up poles in a manner similar to Guyana Power and Light. They then string their illegal wires to homes. There are no safeguards, and earlier this year, a young boy died by way of electrocution.

Our national planners need to examine each community, because THAT is their role. The money may not be readily available for works in every community, but surely there is money to ensure the modicum of service to the people.

How could an administration run pipelines and pass water through them and still ignore the people who should be the beneficiaries? At the same time these administrators claim that the cost of providing water is prohibitive, knowing full well that if everyone is made to share the cost then the cost to individual consumers would decline drastically.