AT age 67, Baldath Bhooklal does not think he should still be building a house for his family but rather he should be spending his retirement in peace and comfort.

The former Caroni (1975) Ltd worker has been waiting for lands promised to him as part of his Voluntary Separation of Employment Package (VSEP), like many other former workers, after the company was closed down almost two decades ago.

“This is owed to me. I would like my land before I die. I know of people who died without seeing their lands. Tell me, you think this right?” he said.

On Thursday, Sunday Newsday visited Bhooklal, his wife Goomattee, 63, and son Pravesh, 32, at their Cumuto Road home in Barrackpore.

His house has been under construction for some years after he accepted the VSEP offer. He believes things could have gone more smoothly and with fewer financial headaches had the VSEP promises been kept.

Since the company’s closure in 2003, he said he has been waiting to get the residential lot and two-acre agricultural plots. It was only a couple of years ago Bhooklal said he got access to the residential plot.

The closure of the company was linked to a financial drain on the treasury.

[caption id="attachment_940588" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Barrackpore farmers returning home after harvesting their fields of squash, Cumuto North Road, Barrackpore on February 17. - ROGER JACOB[/caption]

The VSEP targeted about 7,866 daily-paid and 1,154 monthly-paid employees in which 15 residential sites and 14 agricultural sites were designated in Chin Chin, Felicity, Orange Field, Mc Bean, Esperanza, Roopsingh Road, Exchange, Calcutta, Sonny Ladoo, Brothers/Garth, Picton, Reform, Cedar Hill, La Fortune, and Woodland. The allocation was one lot of residential land and two acres for agricultural land.

At the age of 16, Bhooklal said he started to work at Caroni and stayed with the company until its closure.

“This land is our entitlement, yet we are being treated like beggars for what is rightfully ours.”

Bhooklal said it was difficult for him to even get the residential lot since communication between the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries, Caroni and the Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd have broken down.

“Getting the residential land in Woodland was also a big problem. If I didn’t nag, make noise and harass them, I don’t I would have gotten the residential lot. Imagine that is what people have to do to get something right in this country.”

Bhooklal said he was still owed his agricultural plot, also located in Woodland, and believed that had it been distributed when agreed upon almost 20 years ago his family’s circumstances would have been better.

“When Caroni closed, I had to do odd jobs and was taken advantage of. I do not have an education; we are poor people. We are hard-working people, willing to do anything. Agriculture is a means of survival for my family up to this day.

[caption id="attachment_940590" align="alignnone" width="1024"] From left, Former Caroni workers Thackoorlal Lutchma