Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman held an impromptu meeting at City Hall during the Council’s monthly statutory meeting on Tuesday where he had residents of Campbellville confront their representative, Dimitri Alli.
Minister Trotman decided to undertake this unorthodox step following a recent public meeting at the Camp Town Community Centre in Campbellville, Constituency 3, where he did not shy away from telling residents that he was disappointed at the state of their community, and the fact that they were not being properly represented at the municipal level.
During that meeting, residents told the Minister that they do not know who their councillor is and so Mr Trotman promised to intervene by attending the statutory meeting Tuesday.
Minister Trotman arrived at City Hall while the meeting was ongoing.
“We are here to meet the Councillor to see what can be done to bring some relief to Constituency Three, I am going to be intervening because I believe they are entitled to better,” the Minister said.
As such, the statutory meeting was put on pause and the Councillors exited the chambers while Minister Trotman met with the Mayor Ubraj Narine, the residents and Councillor Alli.
Some of the issues raised were clogged drains that attract mosquitoes and the pile-up of used tyres in a field.
The Minister assured the residents that he will be renting two skip bins from the Mayor and City Council and have the tyres removed Wednesday.
“The intention was not to be confrontational but to be conciliatory to let two sides meet each other,” the Minister said.
One of the residents noted in the meeting, “They have no drainage, the water have nowhere to go, it very bad…Campbellville is in a state, there is no street lights…when rain fall it flood.”
The Minister said the Mayor and Councillors will deliberate on the issues raised and look into what resources are available to assist the residents.
It was also noted that plans were submitted by Councillor Alli to have works done in the community but the City Council is “cash strapped.”
Speaking to the media after the meeting Councillor Alli said he will develop another plan to address the concerns either through the Ministry of Communities or City Hall.
Councillor Alli said that he did receive some complaints about the drainage situation in the area and forwarded the complaints to the City Engineer.
However, he said the issue was never investigated by the City Engineer.
