A 50-year-old man is applying for a plot of land after a shack collapsed over Christmas

A 50-year-old man is asking for his lot to be approved after his shack in Anna Catherine, West Coast Demerara, collapsed around 2am on Christmas Day.

Ganeshram Sahobia, a builder, told Stabroek News that the house, located in a government reserve near the coast, collapsed on one side due to strong winds.

This resulted in damage to his beams in the house, as well as to his refrigerator and television.

He said his nephew, Videsh, 30, and his brother, Bharat, 63, were in the house sleeping.

Videsh was awakened when a wardrobe fell on the bed and injured his leg.

Bharat told him that he felt it shaking and heard loud rumbling sounds. They tried to escape and noticed that the stairs were broken.

Sahobia has been occupying the reserve for several years and is very keen to move. During a heavy rain, they “got wet in the house”.

He applied for his plot of land and was interviewed in 2022. He later received a letter from the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) that he qualified for a low-income housing site.

The letter also states that CH&PA will “later inform you of the area available for allotment and the value of the land.”

Meanwhile, regarding the reserve, he was told: “do not build (renovate), do not pave until they give consent.”

Sahobia, a single father, said he and his 14-year-old son and two daughters; at the ages of 10 and 12 went to a house for another nephew who was killed on the East Bank of Demerara when the disaster happened.

He received a call about the incident, and when he returned, he saw the house leaning on its side. It was badly damaged.

With the help of his brother and good neighbors, they tried to “tie up the house to destroy it before it was broken.”

After that, the rear part of the house was still tilted to one side.

The neighbor, known as “Aunt Love,” said the next morning when she woke up, she saw the house “on the ground … it’s leaning like this,” pointing with her hands.

She helps look after the children and reiterates that during bad weather the children “really punish and we have to be there for them…”

Another neighbor, Shamir Ali, said everyone on the street helps the children, especially when their father returns late from work.

Both neighbors ask that Sahobia get a plot for a house and help rebuild a better house for him and his children.

Sahobia said he decided to build a small house in the reserve because he could not afford to pay the rent.

“Then I worked at sea, and sometimes you get beaten, and sometimes you get a good catch. If you don’t pay the rent on time, they (tenants) want to raise the rent and when you can’t pay, they kick you out,” he noted.

He complained that he did not want to continue sitting in the reserve and have another tragedy happen.

He wants a better life for his children, and the only way to do that is to get his own plot and move out.