Nearly 80 per cent of people who responded to a survey by the Environment Management Authority (EMA) said fireworks affected them negatively. Without knowing the scope of the survey, it is still a large and significant percentage. Another of their surveys said the majority of animals affected (60 percent) were dogs – mostly from disorientation, trauma and death. The effect is practically the same in humans. And that’s just from the sound.
Minister in the Ministry of Attorney General Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal has reported that in 2017, injuries resulted in burns to the eyes, skin and hands, hearing loss and even amputations, and seven of the cases were children aged 12 and under.
Citizens have complained for years about the inconvenience caused by the careless and indiscriminate hands in which these weapons are placed with impunity. Whenever major celebrations approach, such as our 60th anniversary of Independence, anxiety is manifested by the prayers and complaints that circulate. Every year, one hopes that something will be done.
The general rationale is that there are no resources to enforce the existing legislation, and so the AG’s office is making changes to the Summary of Offenses Act under the Summary of Offenses (Amendment) Bill, 2022, known as the Fireworks Bill.
You can’t blame people who feel these legislative proposals are too biased toward ensuring those who profit most from the sale of fireworks are allowed to continue their profitable businesses. Minister Stuart Young had given his opinion that fireworks should not be sold to the public. It seemed the most decisive way to address it legislatively, although we know sales will go underground. The point is that the majority of the population suffers needlessly, and has complained endlessly – and there’s nothing to say that anyone is wronging them. It is like the man who recently complained on a TV news that he had visited four different WASA offices to report that he had no water supply for eight years, and he was still being billed for something he was not getting. . How could he not feel that no one cares?
On August 12, the AP’s office practically held the second round of consultations and said it would take another three months before a new draft law is ready. That’s only until the bill is ready to be debated and passed, which could take who knows how many more months or years.
Reporting on the outcome of the consultation in Express, Anna Ramdass chose to treat it as good news. “Fireworks fans may have a break for the Independence Day celebrations and possibly other holidays this year as lawmakers will go back to the drawing board to make changes to fireworks legislation,” she said. A representative of the Animals 360 Foundation used Facebook to exploit. “The Private Sector has just been shut down by the AG’s office. Some representatives were invited to a public consultation on fireworks on 12 August 2022 and then blocked from attending. The PA’s office continued to stage a public screening and hold an internal discussion, which they were bold enough to refer to as a consultation. This is total disrespect to the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, covered in dishonesty.”
The Fireworks Action Coalition of TT (FACTT) reminded us how long this battle has lasted. “Nineteen years have passed since the Law Reform Commission produced a report (2003) on the legalization of the use of fireworks and successive administrations have done nothing,” wrote its member, Roger Marshall.
I can’t understand why we keep playing with fireworks legislation. I have yet to see a strong case for keeping it. But like thousands of others, I have lost faith.
Noise pollution is accepted as a way of life, so much so that despite the anxiety of nearby residents, who have repeatedly listed attacks on their property and their mental well-being by female residents, Tourism Minister Randall Mitchell boldly announced plans to make Ariapita. Avenue a party strip.
How should people feel?
I had written the EMA in January, complaining about the constant nuisance from the “neighbor’s” welding next door.
This whole business has been a great sadness and disappointment to me. Sad, because we grew up together and when the noise, especially the grinding, got out of hand, I tried to work with him to find a solution. It finally got bad when I discovered that he was just bouncing me around: promising to seal off the area (the cost of which I offered to help), stop working late into the night, and so on. When I told him that I had asked the EMA to come and measure the sound levels and advise what would be acceptable, he took it as a threat and became hostile. It wasn’t until I wrote in a column about EMA’s silence that I got a response. They went to the bar at the end of June. I have no idea what happened, except when I inquired a month later, I got this reply, “The field visit report as well as referral letters to the Regional Corporation and the District Medical Officer of Health had been prepared and are in process now. ” Meanwhile, the noise continues into the late hours of the night and obviously with a vengeance.
Is it any wonder that citizens feel powerless and frustrated?
—Author Vaneisa Baksh is an editor, writer and cricket historian.
E-mail: [email protected]
