THE Land Settlement Agency (LSA) Commissioner of State Lands and the Agriculture Ministry doesn’t seem to have a handle on the squatters situation in this country after reports of an increase in squatting during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In fact, various sectors of our society are referring to 2021 as “the year of the squatter.”
It is alleged that a new type of squatting has emerged in Trinidad and Tobago which is really geared towards land grabbing. They are now known as the land-grabbing “kingpins” who squat on lands so they end up owning prime ones all over this country in key spots for financial gain and not because they are going through economic hardship.
This is very concerning. And one has to ask how this can be happening so rampantly. There are certain hotspot areas in the country where there seems to be a rush of people going to squat such as in Sangre Grande and Valencia, this has also been occurring especially where the Cumuto-Manzanilla Highway is being built.
There seems to be a lot of people, allegedly even high ranking people close who are going into these areas, rushing for commercial reasons rather than the normal hardship reasons where poor people have to resort to squatting.
Recent reports indicated this is a growing phenomenon and although the acting Commissioner of State Lands Bhanmati Seecharan is aware of this they are not equipped to deal with squatting on private lands in particular and furthermore this is out of the remit of her office and the LSA.
The main point here that seems to be missing the scrutiny of the media is that under the law of the LSA, it have a very narrow remit. It only considers certain sites named in the act.
Under the law squatter structures cannot be demolished while people are living in them. Very often, people seem to be aware of these dormant structures which were initially unoccupied and then become suddenly occupied during the seven-day period in which squatters are formally told to leave. The court itself is often lenient in these situations and normally rules in favour of those people if any attempt was made to evict them.
One major issue is that no one is asking the right questions or paying attention to the Caroni lands and HDC lands.
These lands are being targeted by squatters together with private lands by these squatter “Kingpins” to get ownership of these properties.
This is another get-rich scheme involving state and private lands, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and although the Opposition and their senators such as Jayanti Lutchmedial have called for investigations into the sale, lease and theft of Caroni lands by contractors and government financiers, their call goes virtually unnoticed by the media and the powers that be.
The great Caroni, which was closed down in August 2003, once boasted of having 76,608 acres of land as well as milling/processing facilities, a sugar house, a research centre, beach houses, golf courses and many prime bungalows scattered across the sugar belt.
The Opposition is alleging that since the company closed there has been increased action by specific contractors and large businessmen that are encroaching on these lands to enrich themselves while thousands of workers and their dependents, who worked in the sugar industry, continue to face hard times and have never been given lands promised to them.
With the closure of Caroni there has been land grabbing however no one is paying attention to this.
The Commissioner of State Lands has complained bitterly in many forums about the under-resourcing of their department, the unwillingness of regional corporations to assist with demolitions and providing support etc.
However, one pertinent question comes to mind and that is how much of the Caroni lands had been pilfered since the company closed? The allegations keep coming but no one is investigating. This seems to be a clear case of discrimination, corruption and nepotism involved.
This is perhaps why Caroni lands are more attracted to squatters as opposed to LSA designated squatting sites.
There are so many questions yet no investigation, no properly investigated journalism seem to exist anymore.
Neil Gosine is a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration BSc in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily that of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.
2021 – The Year of the Squatter
THE Land Settlement Agency (LSA) Commissioner of State Lands and the Agriculture Ministry doesn’t seem to have a handle on the squatters situation in this country after reports of an increase in squatting during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In fact, various sectors of our society are referring to 2021 as “the year of the squatter.”
It is alleged that a new type of squatting has emerged in Trinidad and Tobago which is really geared towards land grabbing. They are now known as the land-grabbing “kingpins” who squat on lands so they end up owning prime ones all over this country in key spots for financial gain and not because they are going through economic hardship.
This is very concerning. And one has to ask how this can be happening so rampantly. There are certain hotspot areas in the country where there seems to be a rush of people going to squat such as in Sangre Grande and Valencia, this has also been occurring especially where the Cumuto-Manzanilla Highway is being built.
There seems to be a lot of people, allegedly even high ranking people close who are going into these areas, rushing for commercial reasons rather than the normal hardship reasons where poor people have to resort to squatting.
Recent reports indicated this is a growing phenomenon and although the acting Commissioner of State Lands Bhanmati Seecharan is aware of this they are not equipped to deal with squatting on private lands in particular and furthermore this is out of the remit of her office and the LSA.
The main point here that seems to be missing the scrutiny of the media is that under the law of the LSA, it have a very narrow remit. It only considers certain sites named in the act.
Under the law squatter structures cannot be demolished while people are living in them. Very often, people seem to be aware of these dormant structures which were initially unoccupied and then become suddenly occupied during the seven-day period in which squatters are formally told to leave. The court itself is often lenient in these situations and normally rules in favour of those people if any attempt was made to evict them.
One major issue is that no one is asking the right questions or paying attention to the Caroni lands and HDC lands.
These lands are being targeted by squatters together with private lands by these squatter “Kingpins” to get ownership of these properties.
This is another get-rich scheme involving state and private lands, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, and although the Opposition and their senators such as Jayanti Lutchmedial have called for investigations into the sale, lease and theft of Caroni lands by contractors and government financiers, their call goes virtually unnoticed by the media and the powers that be.
The great Caroni, which was closed down in August 2003, once boasted of having 76,608 acres of land as well as milling/processing facilities, a sugar house, a research centre, beach houses, golf courses and many prime bungalows scattered across the sugar belt.
The Opposition is alleging that since the company closed there has been increased action by specific contractors and large businessmen that are encroaching on these lands to enrich themselves while thousands of workers and their dependents, who worked in the sugar industry, continue to face hard times and have never been given lands promised to them.
With the closure of Caroni there has been land grabbing however no one is paying attention to this.
The Commissioner of State Lands has complained bitterly in many forums about the under-resourcing of their department, the unwillingness of regional corporations to assist with demolitions and providing support etc.
However, one pertinent question comes to mind and that is how much of the Caroni lands had been pilfered since the company closed? The allegations keep coming but no one is investigating. This seems to be a clear case of discrimination, corruption and nepotism involved.
This is perhaps why Caroni lands are more attracted to squatters as opposed to LSA designated squatting sites.
There are so many questions yet no investigation, no properly investigated journalism seem to exist anymore.
Neil Gosine is a former chairman of the National Petroleum Marketing Company of Trinidad and Tobago. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration BSc in Mathematics and a BA in Administrative Studies. The views and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessarily that of AZP News, a Division of Complete Image Limited.