00:00About 25 daily paid workers and scores of vendors who operate out of the San Fernando Central Market along Mucarapo Street
00:09are calling for better security and working conditions.
00:13Supported by their union, the Contractors and General Workers Trade Union,
00:17as well as the vendors who sell at the location, corporation employees protested on Tuesday morning.
00:24There's no light in this market, no proper toilet, no running water.
00:28Yes, no proper parking facilities for customers.
00:32When members of the public come to purchase here,
00:36people in the market smoking marijuana, smoking cocaine at the side of the road,
00:41prostitution taking place on a daily basis and no police present.
00:45So we're really working in inhumane conditions.
00:48Just two days ago, they say, a 60-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times by a man carrying a knife
00:55who had moments before gotten into an altercation with someone else.
01:00Up to Sunday gone, a worker, a PC worker, public convenience that is,
01:05was stabbed up by an intruder or a passerby in the market.
01:10She come to work for five o'clock in the morning.
01:13Five o'clock in the morning, when you come in the market, you can't see a hand, no lights.
01:18Yes, the place dark. Up to now, the police haven't come here.
01:22He says whenever they question officials at the city corporation, they are told of a staff shortage.
01:28But Charles says people's lives are at risk daily and something has to be done soon.
01:34What they want is a constant police presence and basic amenities
01:39like proper toilet facilities, repaired roofing and running water.
01:44To come out and see the needs of the people, see the needs of the burgesses.
01:50Yes, the vendors, poor people coming here to make an honest living every day.
01:55Every day these people coming out here leaving their families and coming out here with their life at risk.
02:00I would like the mayor to come down from his chair, visit this place and put things in,
02:06so that we can get a proper market. That is what I would like to see.
02:10When we contacted San Fernando Mayor Robert Paris, he said as it relates to security,
02:16there is a manpower shortage affecting their municipal police complement, which is supposed to be around 100.
02:23He says about 19 are at the training academy.
02:27And with some on various forms of leave, safety and security is compromised.
02:32In terms of the security, that is one of the aspects that we have fell down on.
02:37And we comprehensively discussed it at council.
02:41And the CEO and I are bent on putting measures in place to secure this.
02:46First and foremost, the staff at City Hall and at our institutions, which include the market.
02:53We intend on having a meeting tomorrow with the union and officials from the Ministry of Local Government.
03:01And we will discuss this at length.
03:03He says conversations are also being had about whether or not they will consider hiring a private security firm to fill the gap.
03:12As for the infrastructural concerns, the mayor says work was scheduled for 2023.
03:18However, there is a plan by the line ministry to upgrade markets across the country.
03:23And that is what they have instead been waiting on.
03:27Mayor Paris says he understands and shares the frustrations felt over the conditions and delay in getting improvement.
03:35But says all of these issues will be raised and then hopefully quickly resolved following Wednesday's meeting.
03:43Sindhi Raghuba Tika Singh, TV6 News.
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