‘Operation clean up’ Govt advances by Govt along East Bank corridor

The Guyana Government, through the Grove/Diamond Place Neighbourhood Democratic
Council (NDC) continued its ‘operation clean up’ initiative along the East Bank Demerara
corridor, on Sunday.
Public Affairs Minister, Kwame McCoy and Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat,
spearheaded the exercise, beginning from Grove Market Street to Good Success village. It was
noted that the clean-up drive, which began in January 2022, is an initiative aimed at extensively
cleaning and beautifying the nation.
The public was informed that the partnership among government, Joint Services and the business
community has already seen massive environmental upgrades nationwide. McCoy noted that the
cleaning drive shows the remarkable leadership of the administration to ensure the nation’s
environment remains clean.
The minister said that the zeal for hygienic communities should also be demonstrated by citizens,
noting that they too, have the responsibility to promote a spotless environment and improve their
standard of living. “The responsibility of garbage management is not only by the city or the
NDC, it is from the household level, and the community level. It means that we have to be able
to inculcate, and to practice the right things and habits, in terms of how we dispose our garbage
on any given day,” McCoy stressed.
He assured that Government will continue to provide the resources through the Regional
Democratic Councils and the NDCs for the collection and proper disposal of solid waste. The
public affairs minister pointed out that as the nation expands its tourism wings, the East Bank
corridor will be one of the main throughfares visitors will traverse. “…If we are talking about
moving and growing as a country, tourism is a very important aspect, and it’s about how we keep
our environment clean as well, in terms of maintaining or sustaining the interest in our
tourism,” he reiterated.
McCoy said that with Guyana on the cusp of significant development, while Minister Vickram
Bharrat added that health and safety are two important facets which cannot be avoided. “It is
about a culture change. It’s a message to the residents and those who are passing by that we need
to be very conscious of our environment now, and about health and safety,” Bharrat related.
He underscored to Guyanese to be more patriotic and respect the country’s values. “It is
important to send a message to the young people, that we need to take pride in our environment
and we need to start being a little more patriotic because anyone will tell you that when
Guyanese leave Guyana and they go to foreign countries they are best behaved,” the minister
passionately appealed.
In a media related interview, NDC Chairperson, Indrani Ramnarine, said that the clean-up
exercise was essential, considering the magnitude of development government has envisioned for
Guyana.  “Today is just a continuation of that project that we would have started. The intention

is to embark on it so that we can have continuous support, not only from the agency, but from the
residents as a whole,” Ramnarine declared.
Indian High Commissioner to Guyana, Dr. K. J. Srinivasa was also part of the massive exercise.