Ramleela groups cry out for Govt funding
Freelance Correspondent
Two Ramleela groups from Central Trinidad say they are in dire straits while they await assistance they have applied for from the Government to help cover their bills.
Sundar Jookoo, president of the 109-year-old First Felicity Ramleela and Cultural Group, said his organisation received $10,000 for 2023 to assist in covering their $80,000 budget. He said things are worse this year.
He said, “This year’s celebrations are $120,000 because we have to pay $36,000 to rent bleacher stands for seating from the National Carnival Commission through the Ministry of Culture.
“In 2023, they said the stands were unavailable. In 2020, they charged $6,000. They claim they gave us the wrong prices then, but we were paying that for at least ten years,
“We are begging Minister Randall Mitchel to have some mercy on us because of the state of the economy. We have asked the community for help and all we hear from villagers is the fact they have to pay property tax and they have not a cent to spare.”
Jookoo said players were taking money from their pockets and were still in the process of petitioning the local business community.
Jookoo said, “Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott wrote about the Ramleela he saw in Felicity and spoke about it when he received the Nobel Prize. VS Naipaul also attended the Ramleela celebration hosted by our organisation.”
Meanwhile, Khemchan Sahadeo, head of the Pierre Road Ramleela Committee, said they too were yet to receive their 2023 monies.
Sahadeo said the Pierre Road celebrations were costing around $150,000. He said members of the organisation had raised funds through the sale of food and contributions from the business community.
He said a budget had been submitted to the relevant authorities.
Speaking on the issue, Minister of Tourism Culture and the Arts, Randall Mitchell said Ramleela groups who applied for funding from the state will have to wait a little longer.
He said there were currently six applications that were received and they were going through the ministry’s application and approval process.
Ramleela at Pierre Road culminates tomorrow with the burning of an effigy of the demon king Rawan at 10 pm.
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