Govt advances ‘operation clean up’ along East Bank corridor

Government, through the Grove/Diamond Place Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) continued its ‘operation clean up’ initiative along the East Bank Demerara corridor, on Sunday.

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Public Affairs, Kwame McCoy, M.P, and Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat, M.P, spearheaded the exercise, beginning from Grove Market Street to Good Success village.

The clean-up drive, which began in January 2022, is an initiative aimed at extensively cleaning and beautifying the nation.

The partnership among government, Joint Services and the business community has already seen massive environmental upgrades nationwide.

Minister McCoy said the cleaning drive shows the remarkable leadership of the administration to ensure the nation’s environment remains clean.

He said the zeal for hygienic communities should also be demonstrated by citizens, noting that they too, have the responsibility to promote a spotless environment and improve their standard of living.

“The responsibility of garbage management is not only by the city or the NDC, it is from the household level, and the community level. It means that we have to be able to inculcate, and to practice the right things and habits, in terms of how we dispose our garbage on any given day,” the minister relayed.

Government will continue to provide the resources through the Regional Democratic Councils and the NDCs for the collection and proper disposal of solid waste.

Importantly, Minister McCoy pointed out that as the nation expands its tourism wings, the East Bank corridor will be one of the main throughfares visitors will traverse.

“…If we are talking about moving and growing as a country, tourism is a very important aspect, and it’s about how we keep our environment clean as well, in terms of maintaining or sustaining the interest in our tourism,” he emphasised.

With Guyana on the cusp of significant development, Minister, Vickram Bharrat said health and safety are two important facets which cannot be avoided.

“It is about a culture change. It’s a message to the residents and those who are passing by that we need to be very conscious of our environment now, and about health and safety,” Minister Bharrat underscored.

He called on Guyanese to be more patriotic and respect the country’s values.

“It is important to send a message to the young people, that we need to take pride in our environment and we need to start being a little more patriotic because anyone will tell you that when Guyanese leave Guyana and they go to foreign countries they are best behaved,” the minister noted.

NDC Chairperson, Indrani Ramnarine, told DPI that the clean-up exercise was essential, considering the magnitude of development government has envisioned for Guyana. 

“Today is just a continuation of that project that we would have started. The intention is to embark on it so that we can have continuous support, not only from the agency, but from the residents as a whole,” Ramnarine added.

Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa was also part of the massive exercise.