RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter 

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt 

The Land Set­tle­ment Agency (LSA) has promised to in­ves­ti­gate the plight of mar­ket ven­dor Kr­ish­na Jagges­sar, whose home on Ram­lal Street, Pe­nal, is break­ing apart be­cause of land­slips. Re­spond­ing to Guardian Me­dia, a se­nior LSA of­fi­cial said: “The LSA is deeply sad­dened to learn of Mr Jagges­sar’s sit­u­a­tion and ac­knowl­edges the con­cerns raised.

At this time, we are un­able to con­firm whether a for­mal com­plaint re­gard­ing the need for work in the vicin­i­ty of his home was ever re­ceived. How­ev­er, please rest as­sured that the LSA is ac­tive­ly in­ves­ti­gat­ing the mat­ter to de­ter­mine the facts and iden­ti­fy po­ten­tial so­lu­tions. Should it be with­in the Agency’s ca­pac­i­ty to as­sist, we will make every ef­fort to do so.” 

Jag­gas­sar, 63, spent near­ly two decades re­build­ing his life af­ter a fire de­stroyed his home in 2006. Now, he faces a new bat­tle as shift­ing land threat­ens the house he re­built with his sav­ings. Tor­ren­tial rains last week caused flood­wa­ters to in­un­date the prop­er­ty, lead­ing to the col­lapse of a con­crete wall and in­creas­ing the risk to three near­by homes. To pre­vent fur­ther dam­age, Jagges­sar and his sons dug a trench through their kitchen and broke down an­oth­er wall to drain the wa­ter.

“I gave my life to re­build­ing this home af­ter the fire. Now, every time it rains, I see my years of sac­ri­fice go­ing down the drain. I used all my young, hard-earned mon­ey to build this house, and now, in my old age, I can’t en­joy it. I’m watch­ing every day, hop­ing the rain doesn’t fall. My life de­pends on it be­cause I am sick­ly,” Jagges­sar said.