Fearful of bandits East Ruimveldt woman complains of fencing woes

Paulette Locke, a resident of East Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, Georgetown, is hopeful that the relevant authorities can provide some assistance to her since she has been prevented from erecting a concrete fence around her yard by the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown (M&CC).

The woman lives in a ‘range house’ which is essentially one building that houses several groups of people in different sections. And previously, a concrete fence she erected at the southern boundary of the yard was removed by officials from the City Engineer’s Department.

“…they came in and broke out the fence to the southern boundary and I had to take it to the court and justice was granted in my favour,” Locke told the News Room in a recent interview at her premises.

With the court ruling in her favour, this fence at the southern boundary was rebuilt by the M&CC.

Subsequently, the woman opted to replace the rest of the mesh and zinc fence, at the western and eastern boundaries of the yard, with concrete too. But, she was told to remove the concrete structure since she did not have permission for that.

When asked about the matter on Thursday, City Engineer Colvern Venture told the News Room that the woman does not have permission to fence the area. He maintained that she has to remove the structure.

Locke, however, disagrees.

“….the fence was here, the mesh and zinc, I just moved those materials and put it in concrete,” the woman said.

Importantly, too, she provided a document dated June 4, 2002, from the City Engineer’s department that showed that she has permission for a fence to be constructed around her yard.

Even though she has this letter, she has applied to the department for permission to construct the concrete fence. Eleven months later, however, she has not received a reply.

“People are running through this place, hiding behind this place… police coming through here with guns and all these kinds of thing and onto now we can’t get this permission,” she complained.

Lock later added: “They had one time, police and thing jumping through here because of some bandit.”

As such, she is pleading with the authorities to intervene in the matter so that she and her family can feel more secure in their home.