Dr Wayne Kublalsingh has told his Highway Re-route Movement supporters that he does not expect to survive another week as he nears the 60th day of his hunger strike. HRM member Vishal Boodhai revealed this yesterday as he addressed a joint media conference together with Movement for Social Justice leader David Abdulah, at the party’s St Joseph Village, San Fernando headquarters.
Boodhai told reporters when he met with Kublalsingh on Wednesday at his home, the HRM leader was “very, very weak.” “He did not leave his bed, as his energy levels were quite low. He continues to have a high spirit and he is very committed to seeing that (the mediation) process is followed before any highway construction is undertaken,” Boodhai said.
Kublalsingh has been on a hunger strike since September after calling for a mediation between his group and the Government over the route of the Debe/Mon Desir leg of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway extension to Point Fortin.
Boodhai said Kublalsingh strongly believed mediation was the only solution to the stalemate between the HRM and Government. Kublalsingh, he added, told them that should Government and HRM come to some serious agreement on a mediator, he would end his hunger strike. “He told us on Wednesday he cannot see himself really going beyond one week,” Boodhai said. “We really hope that a resolution could be found sooner than later and we really hope that he really does not... that any unwanted outcome is felt or seen at this point. “He does not see himself living beyond one week, based on his assessment of his health.”
Boodhai, who delivered a PowerPoint presentation on last week’s collapse of a portion of the shoulder of the highway leading to the newly-opened Golconda interchange, said while many people had been pleading with Kublalsingh to end his strike “he is not going to give up.”
Kublalsingh, Boodhai said, was “very focused in his mission to get transparency and accountability with respect to the highway and as he has said before he is willing to commit his life to ensuring that transparency and accountability is upheld with this project and all projects.”
Shoddy work on highway
Boodhai said last week’s collapse of the shoulder is an example of the shoddy work being done on the highway. He pointed to recommendations made by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) for sedimentation and erosion management plans which were not carried out.
Boodhai also said the Forestry Division had also expressed concerns about the incursion of the highway into the Oropouche lagoon, while the Met Office had registered its concern that flood-prone areas such as Debe were not mapped into the highway project plans. “We believe that these studies like the hydrological report should have been done in the first place, before any construction work was to proceed in the Debe leg, to basically avoid scenarios like what transpired in the Golconda to Debe leg of the highway,” he said.
Boodhai said the collapsed part of the shoulder has been “hidden” under a piece of white tarpaulin, but on Saturday evening the area of the collapse was visible and more pronounced under the sheeting. Yesterday, OAS workers were seen excavating and backfilling the collapsed area.