THE pumps that remove flood waters should remain diesel powered.
This was the point made by St Augustine MP Prakash Ramadhar who questioned why Minister of Works Rohan Sinanan planned to replace all the country’s anti-flood diesel water pumps with electric ones in the wake of the passage of Tropical Storm Karen.
At a news conference on Tuesday at his constituency office Ramadhar said, “In a true disaster we might not have any electricity.”
Ramadhar said many of his constituents, who were themselves victims of flooding, felt hurt by recent remarks by government ministers that people should not have built in flood-prone areas dubbed “ponds.”
Ramadhar said many residents of Bamboo No3 lived there because it was an old settlement.
He said, “People had agricultural lands and had to live close to their crops and livestock.”
“It is wrong to say it is the victims to blame. I say to the Government deal with those who block our waterways.
“It is up to the State, before the rainy season, to ensure our rivers are clear. The reality of climate change is upon us.”
Ramadhar asked, “Is there any programme or plan to redirect the floods into our reservoirs? Is there any plan to create new reservoirs and catchment areas, so we would mitigate the floods we now have?”
