Some residents of Diamond New Housing Scheme are complaining of the prevalence of Africanised bees in the area and the inaction of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) and Agriculture Ministry in offering them relief.
According to residents, several weeks have passed since both the NDC and Ministry committed to send out an inspection team to determine how to assess the situation.
Suresh Sukhwa, a resident of 12th Avenue Diamond, told INews that residents have been reporting the issue since January to the authorities and no action has been taken.
“We have been having this problem of African bee infestation months now and we keep reporting over and over and nothing. They never even sent anybody to check it out as they had promised; the NDC neither the Ministry,” he said.
Sukhwa, a tailor, said that he is unable to properly carry out his work since any noise “raises” the bees. “I have to keep my machine inside. I frighten to even turn it on because of the noise and I frighten they raise up. And I have to work and live,” he said. The bees, he said, are in his ceiling and in a barrel in his yard.
These bees are deadly and residents are fearful of the harm they can pose for them and their children.
Another resident, Suriya Singh, said that she is fearful to even allow her children to play in the yard because only recently, the bees badly attacked a weeder who was working in the area and he had to be rushed to the hospital.
“I frighten to have my children outside because the slightest noise does make them fly around. These things kill and only when something bad happen then the authorities would step in. Look how long we keep reporting this thing and nobody even came to pay us a visit,” she said.
She is forced to keep her children and grandchildren inside most times because she is afraid of them being attacked and killed by the bees. “These bees are deadly. We have children here and children don’t know danger. I hope that after this article that we can see somebody and get some kind of help in removing these bees,” Singh said.
