Residents call for pavement barriers to be removed

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Residents of Cipero Road, Golconda are calling for authorities to remove barriers that currently block off part of the pavement which a resident is now using as a private car park.

Complaints have been lodged at the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation, the Princes Town Regional Corporation and the Highways Division after a young child was almost hit by a car.

The child had been forced to walk onto the road because the pavement had been blocked up by the barriers and a parked vehicle.

An elderly woman from the area was also traumatized after she too was almost hit by an oncoming car.

When Guardian Media visited the area, the pavement was barricaded. A black Hyundai Tuscon was parked on the pavement. Steel pipes set in concrete had been erected alongside the pavement barring off a section of the pavement.

A resident who was standing inside the yard of a house behind the barricaded pavement said he was not responsible for the barriers. He said he did not know who was responsible.

Contacted for comment, chairman of the Princes Town Regional Corporation Gowrie Roopnarine said he will send a team to the area on Monday to deal with the matter.

“Our engineer go there and deal with it along with our Corporation Police. That road is a Ministry of Works Road but that side of the road falls under our jurisdiction. We will get our Corporation police to have the offender remove the barriers once it blocks the pavement and poses a risk to pedestrians,” Roopnarine said.

Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act, Chapter 48:50, Regulation 38, Section 6. (1) states: “No person shall cause or permit a private motor car to be parked in any scheduled area in such a manner as to cause an obstruction to the free ingress to or egress from the said scheduled area.”

The penalty for this $500 or three months imprisonment.

Under the Highways Act Chapter 48:01 Section 48 titled Damage to Footways of Streets by excavation states:-

(1) Any person, who without lawful authority or excuse, in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway is liable to a fine of two hundred dollars. (2) A constable may arrest without warrant any person whom he sees committing an offence against this section.