Plastic City residents go the extra mile ...
unemployed husband, Babita is struggling to make ends meet.
She operates a small snackette in front of her home. Every day she wakes up at 4 am to start making food items, including black-pudding, pholourie, channa and egg balls, which she displays in a glass case.
Recently she started cooking “a few boxes of food to sell. She also sells sodas, juices, water and packaged snacks and depends on the support mainly from members of the community.
As much as she is struggling, though, she looks forward to a “bright Christmas” and tries her best to make the day special.
People started squatting in the mangrove swamp over 25 years ago because they had nowhere else to go and also because it was cheaper living. Now there are over 20 houses hidden amid the thick mangroves at `Plastic City’.
The area was known as ‘Railway Road’ but the name had changed because the original dwellings were made out of plastic. There are also reports that the area was surveyed and the houses close to the shore would be removed to make way for a “wall” to be built to prevent flooding.
A resident, Alfred Williams, who has lived in Plastic City for over 25 years said if the sea defence is built, the flooding would not affect them that much during the spring tide.
To do that, though, a few houses have to be removed but the residents are not cooperating. He also pointed out that their road, which was in a terrible condition, was rehabilitated but the work could not be completed because a resident’s house was in the path and he refused to remove it.