A little over three dozen members of various civil society groups braved heavy rains on Wednesday night as they held a vigil in solidarity for environmentalist Dr Wayne Kublalsingh. Armed with wax-filled dawes, the group laid the lit clay lamp in and around the make shift camp outside the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair, which Kublalsingh occupied for majority of his over month-long hunger strike in protest of the construction of the Debe to Mon Desir segment of the Point Fortin Highway project. Heavily armed security guards looked on behind the high metal fence surrounding the office complex at St Clair Avenue, but did not intervene to stop the group, which cautiously contained their activities to the edge of the pavement.
Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) leader David Abdulah, who led the group, said it chose engage in the activity the eve of the Divali public holiday because of the special significance of the Hindu festival. “We hope symbolically the light of the deyas around this building will illuminate the thinking of those who make decisions from within,” Abdulah said. He also delivered a brief message from Kublalsingh, who recently transfered his protest to his D’Abadie home after his family claimed his health had seriously deteriorated after spending over 37 days without food or water. The group, which included a handful of members of Kublalsingh’s Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) cheered and applauded as Abdulah criticised several recent anti-Kublalsingh newspapers advertisements from a group refering to themselves as “Citizens for the Highway.” “The outcry against that was huge. What that says is when they engage someone in a debate and they are losing, they then turn to insult,” Abdulah said as he claimed the advertisement were paid for by Government supporters using a fictitious name.
The former government senator also expressed optimism over recent meetings between civil society groups, the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC) and the National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (Nidco), the State-run organisation managing the construction of the controversial billon dollar project. Abdulah said the JCC was expected to receive a response from Nidco on whether its compliance with recommendations in a report prepared in 2012 by a committee of its members led by former Independent Senator Dr James Armstrong, on Friday. The report is central to Kublalsingh and the HRM’s claims that the segment of the highway should be stopped to allow for a hydrology study and comprehensive socio-economic analysis. “We will see what they say to the JCC. I’m sure they (the JCC) will say if it is unsatisfactory,” Abdulah said.