00:00Less than 100 days before Carnival, the government has taken a decision to ban the hosting of events at Uticot sites.
00:08In a social media post today, Prime Minister Kamla Passat-Bazesa says, quote,
00:13Noise pollution is a nuisance. I instructed that all feds at the Bryan-Lara Stadium be stopped as the noise has become unbearable for residents.
00:22For far too long, the issue of noise pollution and its negative impact on communities has been ignored.
00:28My government is committed to addressing this as promised, end quote.
00:33The post goes on to state that before the end of the year, government will pass fireworks legislation in Parliament
00:39and introduce enhanced noise pollution laws to regulate designated quiet hours,
00:45as well as new restrictions on feds, music trucks, residential parties and bars.
00:51Meantime, Uticot Chairman Shankar Badesi says,
00:54The board has approved a policy that there are to be no feds at any of Uticot's premises.
01:00The news has sent shockwaves through the entertainment sector,
01:04with the Trinidad and Tobago Promoters Association calling it
01:07the death of carnival, entertainment and tourism.
01:12The TGPA has labelled the move a destructive retrograde step,
01:16arguing that it undermines one of the nation's most important non-energy revenue sectors,
01:22adding that events employ over 100,000 people directly during the two-month carnival season.
01:29The TGPA warns that this will further deepen the unemployment crisis facing Trinidad and Tobago
01:36and directly reduce the country's ability to earn foreign exchange.
01:41The association further notes with dismay that many promoters who had already received approval
01:47to use the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, the International Waterfront Centre and other key venues
01:53were informed only this week that their permissions had been revoked
01:58and laments that this has left more than 20 of the largest carnival events without a home.
02:04The association further notes the recent increase in the cost of alcohol,
02:08which it says has already had a catastrophic impact.
02:11The association further points out that TNT is known globally as the Mecca of Carnival
02:16and says it will not sit quietly by while this legacy is destroyed.
02:21The TGPA is therefore calling for an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister.
02:26Meantime, former Minister of Tourism Randall Mitchell is taking the Prime Minister to task
02:31for her use of the word noise to refer to our cultural events.
02:36We have already seen the reduction in sponsorship to steel bands.
02:42We have already seen a reduction in the subvention to the National Carnival Commission.
02:49And now we are seeing that they are blanket bands.
02:54And Trinidad and Tobago's cultural expression in music,
02:59whether it be by steel pan, calypso or soaker,
03:04must not be reduced and described by the word noise.
03:10We are long past those days.
03:13Mitchell says while noise pollution is a valid concern,
03:17the focus should be on regulation and enforcement.
03:20What is needed is a policing of the regulations on decibel limits,
03:26event hours and sound management by the EMA,
03:33by the management of the Brown-Lara Stadium and by the promoters.
03:40Renasa Cutting, TV6 News.
