Seven households residing on the far bank of the Godineau River in St John’s Village, Avocat, will mark this year’s Divali by lighting traditional clay deyas in their own homes for the first time in two years, after a long-awaited permanent access crossing was officially commissioned last week. The families were forced to abandon their properties back in 2022, when the region’s nearly century-old concrete bridge – the only paved route linking their small agricultural enclave at St John’s Branch Road to the rest of the wider community – collapsed without warning. Fearing for their safety, the displaced families scattered to rented apartments across different parts of the island, navigating years of daily hardship to access work, school, and basic services.
For Trevor Pancham, a father of two who relocated to Gasparillo after the collapse, the commissioning ceremony marked the end of a daily ordeal that saw his children repeatedly face delays reaching their school in Fyzabad. “I am heading home right now to start cleaning for the Festival of Lights,” Pancham shared moments after the bridge was opened. “It has been far too long to wait to celebrate Divali under our own roof. We could not risk wading across that river every morning with two small kids, no matter how badly we wanted to stay. Today that fear is gone.”
Another displaced household, 39-year-old Junior Sookdeo, his 22-year-old wife Bridget Ramlal, and their four-year-old daughter, spent two years living in a rented unit in Rousillac after the collapse. Ramlal, who runs a local small food business, recalled the dangerous pre-dawn commutes that forced her family to leave home as early as 4 a.m. to make sales, since no vehicles could reach their isolated property. “We are so relieved to be going back, but our home has been empty for two years, so we will spend the next few days cleaning and making small renovations before we fully move in,” she explained.
In the immediate aftermath of the old bridge’s collapse, residents relied on a community-donated pirogue, pulling themselves across the Godineau River using a taut rope strung between the two muddy banks. Retired construction worker Sookdeo Premchand, frustrated to see so many neighbours displaced, organized a volunteer team to build a makeshift bamboo footpath across the waterway to improve safety, a structure that Ministry of Works teams later reinforced earlier this year to reduce accident risks. For months, many residents had abandoned hope that a permanent crossing would ever be built, after repeated appeals to prior government officials went unanswered, with representatives reportedly claiming the small number of affected households did not justify infrastructure investment.
The tide turned when Minister of Works and Infrastructure Jearlean John prioritized the project shortly after taking office, fast-tracking deployment of a pre-existing Bailey bridge stored in the ministry’s inventory after standard procurement processes faced delays. John successfully advocated to transfer the project to the National Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (NIDCO) to cut through bureaucratic red tape, a move that saw the full crossing completed in just three months and delivered under the allocated budget.
During the official commissioning event, John noted that she had been deeply troubled by the severe disruption the two-year isolation had inflicted on local families, and had made restoring the river crossing one of her earliest administration priorities. She thanked the displaced residents for their extraordinary patience through years of uncertainty, and was joined at the ceremony by fellow cabinet ministers Dr Lackram Bodoe and Davendranath Tancoo, past and present Fyzabad parliamentary representatives, NIDCO chairman Neil Dookie, and Siparia Mayor Doodnath Mayhroo, a member of the local community himself.
Minister Tancoo openly criticized the prior administration for neglecting the community’s needs, noting that the two-year isolation had blocked emergency service access to the enclave and even forced a local wedding to be relocated at the last minute. Before the official delegation departed the event, the group joined residents to light traditional deyas along the new Bailey bridge, illuminating the restored connection ahead of the Divali celebrations.
7 families return home after two years
