By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE leaders of the praedial larceny squad are abusing the vehicles and equipment assigned to them to efficiently execute their duties says Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat.
Rambharat said with the recent appointments of a Superintendent and an Assistant Superintendent two weeks ago, he hoped that issues of absenteeism, abuse of equipment, and various other issues in the praedial larceny squad would be adequately addressed.
The Minister was speaking in the Senate on Tuesday during the Oral Answer segment. He was answering a question asked by Independent Senator Amrita Deonarine about the squad’s ability to deal with increasing reports of praedial larceny from farmers.
Rambharat said the squad that was formed in 2013 operates in four divisions and Northern, Eastern, Central and Southern divisions and all were active at this time.
When asked about vehicle availability, Rambharat responded, “The vehicles are available. They are abused, they have been destroyed particularly in the hands of the leadership of the squad. The taxpayers of this country provide vehicles and equipment, they are used for various private enterprises and many times they are not available for the use by the officers for responding to calls by farmers.”
He continued, “It is something that we have been addressing and it has proven to be a difficulty to keep the vehicles on the road.”
