Tuschen NDC dismantles stalls, sheds for perimeter violations
Six vendors of the Tuschen market located on the East Bank of Essequibo have had portions of their stalls including the sheds, dismantled by the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) for exceeding their established perimeters.
The NDC conducted the dismantling exercise at approximately 9 am on Thursday.
Most of the vendors at the market told Stabroek News that the NDC had informed them on Monday that their sheds along with portions of their stands were blocking the walkway and were a traffic hazard to the community and as such, had to be removed. The vendors are contending that the sheds did not have to be taken down as they were being used to protect their vegetables from the elements.
A food vendor who occupies the first stall at
Tuschen front road, Sharon Dillon, a 56-year-old single mother of 12 and a vendor for 16-plus years, told Stabroek News that no representative from the NDC ever informed her about the dismantling of her shed that was protruding about two feet from her stall. She said that the NDC workers just came and ripped the shed off of her stall and destroyed it. “I would like them to compensate me for the damages. I want the NDC to provide a contractor to carry out the repairs to my stall that was partially ripped.”
Dillon disclosed that she has been selling on the Tuschen Road front for about 14 years now, when vendors were relocated and brought off the road. She said that that her stand still has room to extend out but unfortunately the shed which was attached to her stall was ripped off by the NDC and destroyed on Thursday morning. She said the NDC is claiming that vendors are not supposed to have the shed protruding since it’s not aligned with the walkway. She had erected it there as protection from the wind and passers-by would use it to shelter from the rain.
“We are Guyanese and we can’t have the shed out, but the Venezuelans that sell in the market have it out and the NDC is not doing anything about that. This shed is about one year old and it was aligned with the space I suppose to occupy. Everyone could have seen through the
shed; it wasn’t boarded up. When people come, they would shelter from the rain. I also had a tent with [tarpaulin] on it and the NDC workers broke that up as well. There is no bus shed here and when the rain falls, everyone comes and shelter under the shed. All the people that are selling
on the other side, nobody things didn’t get touch, it has vendors selling on the pavement and the NDC officials didn’t do anything about that.”
Another vendor, Bevon Josiah, 49, who has been selling at the Tuschen Front Road for over 23