WESTERN BUREAU — Member of Parliament for North Trelawny Wendell Stewart is appealing to squatters who occupy the Falmouth cemetery to vacate the property so that the $4-million refurbishing exercise now being carried out at the facility, can be completed on time.

He said there are at least five families living in wooden houses on the property and their presence is robbing the town of burial space.

Work on the Falmouth cemetery began just over two weeks ago, and is being carried out under the government’s Lift-Up Jamaica programme.

The project, which employs 32 persons, is being done in two phases and is scheduled to last for six weeks. The first phase involves the clearing of shrubs and vegetation and the erection of perimeter fencing.

However, Stewart warned that ‘problems’ will arise when the construction of the perimeter wall begins.

“The structures in the cemetery are definitely going to pose a problem for the fencing of the property because we cannot put up the fence and enclose the structures (squatter houses) in there,” he argued.

Stewart said that if the houses are not demolished and the squatters relocated within the next few weeks, the completion date would have to be pushed back.

The MP added that there are presently three more houses under construction on the site, and alleged that one of them was owned by a “politician’s wife”. According to him, she is fully aware that she is encroaching on the property and he warned that every effort would be made to have her unfinished house demolished.

“She didn’t have to do it, she is just greedy,” the MP charged.

Meanwhile, Stewart has challenged the Trelawny Parish Council to put measures in place to ensure that the cemeteries in the parish are properly maintained after they are refurbished.

He said the Duncans cemetery, which was refurbished late last year at a cost of $1-million, is now overgrown with shrubs as the Council has done nothing to maintain the facility since it was handed over to it.

Last year, Brian Silvera, superintendent of roads and works at the council, told the Observer that the more than 20 public cemeteries in the parish are generally in a poor state.

According to him, the Council was unable to adequately maintain the facilities because of a lack of funds.

He added, however, that efforts were being made to have at least one of the burial grounds bushed every month.