Dr Roger Luncheon

micevan1l6

Police on the East Bank of Demerara are currently investigating yet another armed robbery.Karmindra Ghansian of Middle Street, Mc Doom, said around 19:45 on Monday while his brother Komal Ram was closing up their grocery shop, they were attacked by three men – two of whom were armed with handguns.According to the businessman, his brother was about to lock up the shop when three men approached him, pretending to be customers. At the time of the incident, two other customers were in the shop. However, the two customers were locked in the shop as the men carried out their robbery.Ghansian said that while in the shop, his brother was forced to hand over in excess of $220,000 as the men threatened to kill him if he did not meet their demand for all the money and jewellery that they had. Throughout the ordeal, the men kept asking for gold and more cash.Not being satisfied, Ghansian said he was upstairs entertaining some overseas guests, and they too were attacked by the gunmen. The man said his guests were forced to hand over their valuables as well.Meanwhile, this newspaper was told that during the robbery, a fourth man kept watch not far from the shop.After spending some 15 minutes in the businessman’s home the men calmly left after warning the occupants not to raise an alarm. The matter has since been reported and investigations are ongoing.Contractors paid in excess of $40M– But more than $60M still owed by Govt – Mayor“There is no regulation or provision which allows any person, including the Minister or any institution, to direct how the municipality dispenses its revenue.”This disclosure was made by City Mayor Hamilton Green who related yesterday at a press conference that having sought legal advice, the municipality has been duly informed that it is not obligated to follow any order issued by Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Kellawan Lall, to pay a specific sum to the contractors.The Local Government Ministry by way of correspondence had instructed the municipality to pay the sum of $15M to Cevon’s Waste Management, another $15M to Puran Brothers’ Waste Disposal Service and $10M to Crawler and Wheeler. The payment amounting to a total of $40M, represented taxes paid by the Government last Friday.However, according to Green, intensified revenue collection on the part of the Mayor and City Council of Georgetown has been instrumental in ensuring that the waste disposal contractors have together been paid in excess of the $40M rates and taxes. He disclosed further that Government is still indebted to the municipality to the tune of some $60M representing taxes due and payable.“Since we are trying to avoid lawlessness…we proceeded as an act of good faith to engage the contractors and have had a very fruitful meeting with them…They expressed some disappointment…Be that as it may, cheques were paid to them that satisfied them generally.”According to Green a decision was taken, based on legal advice, to ignore the arbitrary figure that the Local Government Ministry had ordered the contractors be paid. In essence, Green said that the municipality was able to provide a comfortable figure that was based on a just calculation.“It turns out that that figure was not less than the figure quoted in the letter from the Ministry. They (contractors) of course expected more and the Minister when I met him today (yesterday) did suggest that if he did not intervene or the government did not intervene in the crisis, it would have remained extant….”However, it is the view of the Mayor that had the Government done the proper thing in the first instance there would have been no crisis and by extension, no need for the intervention of the government.The Mayor related that in spite of the difficulties, the contractors are very understanding of the plight which the municipality faces.“They understand the problem and we have always had a moment of stress and strain but moments of understanding with all of the contractors…I said publicly and I said to them we have always found them most reasonable except that on this occasion we did not get the taxes we expected.”Green stated that he was engaged in a meeting with Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, and Minister Lall on Monday where he sought to emphasise the point that Government is still indebted to the municipality.According to Green, he is yet to learn of the basis for the arbitrary $40M payout by Government.“This is unfortunate in a business arrangement and therefore I can assume that since that figure was not based on the figure from our Treasury Department, it is what we call a political figure, and I am prepared to deal with that because that is my forte…”Green further vented his frustration over remarks made by the Minister that it is inappropriate for the municipality to spend about 70 percent of its earnings on wages and salaries.Green said that a municipal emergency meeting yesterday saw discussions on how plans will be channelled in an attempt to cut staff.“It seems as though we have no choice but we would certainly like to invite the Minister to share his information, wisdom and perception and his concerns with us.”Accused burglary duo remandedSelwyn and Devon Gillis were both charged with break and entry and larceny when they appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton yesterday.Because the matter was an indictable, the two men were not required to plea, Police prosecutor Stephen Telford however requested the administration of the Justice Act making it a summary matter capable of being tried and determined in the Magistrates’ Court. After the charges were read the accused pleaded not guilty.It is alleged that on Thursday August 5, last, the two men broke into a shop in Albouystown, and stole several items including a music set, two DVD players and a quantity of alcohol beverages. The items were all the property of Parbattie Ally and amounted to $478,700 in value.The magistrate remanded the duo until their next court date which was set for September 23.