Agriculture Minister, Zulfikar Mustapha has called for an investigation to be launched following reports that the flood control embankment in the Letter Kenny backland at Whim had experienced severe damage which exacerbated the flooding situation in most of the nearby agricultural areas.
Guyana Standard understands that it was residents of the already embattled villages who recently reached out to the Minister and other senior officials of the National Drainage and Irrigation Authority (NDIA) on this matter.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the damage led to severe breaches in sections of the structure, which later collapsed, resulting in floodwaters from the savannahs invading several agricultural areas.
The Agriculture Minister condemned the act and called on persons in the area to desist from interfering with those critical structures.
“…I’ve seen videos of the devastation now being faced as a result of what appears to be a deliberate act. These are critical structures that were built to restrict the intrusion of floodwaters into residential and farming communities. If government is working and allocating resources to reduce flooding and a few persons take it upon themselves to disrupt that, hundreds of farmers and residents will suffer so I am urging persons to desist from tampering with these critical structures,” Minister Mustapha said.
NDIA has since moved to have the structure repaired and will continue to monitor the situation in the affected areas.
