Regional Vice Chairman denies accusations made by councillors

By Malisa Playter Harry

Region Six Vice Chairman, Dennis Deroop is refuting claims by Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) in the region that they were not consulted on the region’s 2017 Budget proposal.

During a recent press briefing at the Regional Democratic Council’s boardroom, Deroop informed the media that the information being peddled by councillors; Haseef Yusuf and Gobin Harbhajan, are false and misleading.

“We would have had many proposals submitted by NDC’s and CDC’s but all cannot be included in the regional budget” he outlined.

It was disclosed that the Regional budget would have at least 20-25 road projects and some of the NDC’s submitted more than 30 projects to be done, however, he said “we cannot do so many projects in one NDC in the regional budget when we have 20-25 on the whole program, we have to prioritize”.

He stressed that the region has their own proposals which residents would have made recommendations for.

Meanwhile, he also responded to claims made by Yusuf that he is misusing regional resources.

Deroop stated, “I have a document from NDIA, the NDIA controls all the big excavators, long and short reach excavators and bulldozers”. He stated that the administration would normally discuss with the engineers of the region where and when the machines should be moved and denies using the excavator for private works.

He disclosed that the region will be taking disciplinary actions against the two councillors in the next statutory meeting regarding the accusations made.