Looking at the undulating hills where sugar cane once grew creates a feeling of nostalgia for 75-year-old Ramrajie Ramdeo. For most of her life, Ramdeo worked on the sugar estates with her husband Ramdeo Maniram, earning $1.20 per tonne of cane from Mr Tancoo, the largest cane farmer in Barrackpore in the late 1950s. Today, Ramdeo’s husband is dead from excessive drinking, and some of the undulating hills in the sugar belt have been cut down for various developmental projects.
Ramdeo said she misses the days when the smell of burning cane would envelop the entire village. Although her husband built a concrete house with a loan from the Agricultural Development Bank, Ramdeo spends most of her time in a wooden shed behind the concrete structure. She continues to cook on a chulha (mud and clay stove) using firewood and a pooknie (metal pipe used to blow the firewood).
The elderly woman lamented that they could not account for a lot of Caroni’s assets. “I remember when the engine (train) used to pass and how we suffered when Caroni closed. That is why my son left the village, he is living in Tortuga now,” she revealed. Life has been more bitter than sweet for Ramdeo’s and many other families who relied on the sugar cane industry.
Caroni’s assets, which once included 77,000 acres of land, a profitable rum distillery, a research station, a feed centre, citrus, dairy, rice and beef divisions, as well as sugar engineering and transport sections, have been auctioned, pilfered and in some cases, abandoned.
Large chunks of Caroni lands are being used for private development, government projects, residential housing, agriculture, squatter regularisation, and by religious organisations. However, the exact amount of Caroni lands used, and how much is left, remains a mystery.
The Estate Management Business Development Company (EMBD, which was given responsibility for Caroni’s assets in May of 2008, has been stripped of some of its power and no longer constructs roads and bridges to facilitate farming.
As such, many of the two-acre plots given to ex-Caroni workers have been abandoned. A great portion of the two-acre agricultural blocks distributed to some workers remains uncultivated and many are now being sold in the Picton, La Fortune and La Gloria estates. There are also claims that agricultural land is now being converted to residential purposes and sold.
Along the M2 Ring Road, in Picton, there are concrete houses in various stages of construction. While a few plots of land close to the Woodland intersection have fields of corn, peppers and melongene, the vast majority of plots are overgrown with weeds.
Roads and drains have been built on the Trinidad Hill leading to Monkey Town, but plots have not yet been distributed even though underground water and electricity lines have been run. Officials of several state agencies said no data had been compiled to assess how Caroni’s vast assets were distributed.
EMBD says it’s not our responsibility
The EMBD, which was granted responsibility for Caroni’s assets by Cabinet in May 2008 has been stripped of some of its powers. In an interview with the Sunday Guardian, EMBD’s newly-appointed Acting CEO Gary Parmassar said it was not true that EMBD had responsibility for all Caroni’s lands, as it had responsibility only to execute some agricultural leases.
“We have the head lease for seven estates and these are Caroni, Edinburg, Felicity 1, Felicity 2, Jerningham Junction, La Fortune and La Gloria. Out of those estates we have 3,149 agricultural plots, most of which have been distributed,” Parmassar said.
Based on a November 2014 EMBD report, Parmassar explained: “We have executed 2,104 leases but there are some that have not yet been allocated by Caroni.” Asked why, Parmassar said he did not know. He said the EMBD had between 800 to 900 leases to execute but were experiencing challenges because of the length of time it took for things to be put in place.
“We are finding that the ex-workers have passed away. We have to now find the beneficiary. We are asking them to come and sign the lease but they are not coming.” Parmassar said the impasse at the Board of Inland Revenue also posed a challenge as documents could not be legally registered if stamp duties were not paid. He also said that EMBD did not have the head lease for any residential land as this was being controlled by the Commissioner of State Lands and Caroni.
In 2003, Caroni (1975) Ltd closed its doors, sending home 7,965 employees. Workers were offered VSEP at a cost of $741.5 million.
Former prime minister Patrick Manning promised “a golden handshake,” inclusive of 30 residential housing estates to accommodate 5,000 former employees with offers of leases at subsidised prices of $30,000 per lot, provision of alternative employment in the industrial sector through establishment of e-Teck, development of 17 agricultural estates at a cost of $598.1 million and training of 3,400 former employees at a cost of $16.5 million.
However, while ex-Caroni workers got compensated, cane farmers said they were still waiting for help. Mahadeo Persad, of Gunness Trace, said he planted ten acres of cassava but had no market. “The floods washed away five acres of corn. We have to pay so much money for fertiliser. If it wasn’t for pension and social grants many people would have suffered,” Persad said. Shanti Gopaul, of Rochard Douglas Road, said she had been working Cepep since Caroni closed.
Commissioner responds
Commissioner of State lands Ian Fletcher said that he did not have data to show how Caroni’s assets were distributed. He also denied authorising the transfer of agricultural lands for residential uses.
“That data has to be obtained from Caroni. I don’t have that figure at all,” Fletcher said. Asked why lands were now being sold on the open market, Fletcher referred further questions to corporate communications officer Sookram Ali. He also said that routine checks were done and if the stipulations of the lease were broken, the lands could be taken away.
Caroni ceo—i don’t know
Chief Executive Officer of Caroni Kevin Singh also could not produce the data on how much of Caroni’s lands had been divided up for various uses. He said Caroni was in charge of distributing lands for residential purposes only, and not agricultural leases. However, he said, he would have to compile data before making a further comment. He said at the end of the first quarter of next year, perhaps around March or April, the remaining lots would be distributed.
Housing Minister Dr Roodal Moonilal did not respond to e-mails on how much of Caroni’s lands were used by Udecott for government projects.