Sando food outlets face losses Water shortage may force closure for Carnival
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Faced with a critical water shortage, many food outlets in San Fernando may have to close their doors this Carnival weekend, resulting in big losses. Shasseek Karamath, owner of Karamath’s Roti Shop, said his establishment, located along Coffee Street, had been without pipe-borne water for almost two weeks. He blamed the shortage on a clogged Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) pipeline. ’WASA came and checked the line but they did not fix it, so I have had no water. I applied for a truck supply three days now and up to now, nothing,’ he said. Karamath said the last time he received truck-borne water was last week Friday. ’A truck is just 1,600 gallons, and is a food place with 13 employees. If I don’t get water today, I won’t be able to open tomorrow (today), and this is the week leading up to Carnival when people want their roti because we don’t open on Carnival Monday and Tuesday. We will lose real money,’ Karamath said. An employee at Grill House along Coffee Street said they, too, were affected by the water situation. ’If we don’t get water on the line soon, we’ll have to stay closed for the Carnival weekend because the water we have in the tank will not last that long,’ she said. Another business owner said: ’Several businesses have a problem with the price of pipe-borne water. As of Monday, all metered customers are now getting truck-borne water. Before, if we did not have water then we remained without, but WASA is charging us $175 for every 400 gallons. That is $525 for a truck of water from WASA when the illegal water truckers usually charge $300. If WASA want to stop the illegal sale of water, why they charging so much?’ He said standard rate customers were being charged $250 for truck-borne water. ’When I went to WASA recently to beg for water, someone who works there told me that the private contractors only pay $20 for 1,200 gallons, so I don’t see why they are charging us so much,’ he said.(Trinidad Express) |