by Pauline ETIENNE

?Rats are like members of my family now. Every night, we can hear noise in the pots?, complains Sylvain, owner of a unit of the National Housing Development Company (NHDC). ?Rats are getting on our nerves. Now they have got into my sofas and started eating my cushions?, relates Dorothée. The scenes described appear so incredible that it looks as if they belonged to a horror movie.

And yet, Sylvain and Dorothée are not the only ones facing such problems. Despite the fact that we are in the 21st century and even if people like them have a roof over their heads, they are still facing many hygienic and unhealthy problems at their homes.

NHDC has been set up to give a chance to all those with little financial means to own their homes. How proud they must have been when they received the keys of their new unit a few years ago! And how disappointed they must be now that they have realised that they were perhaps living in better conditions before.

In Dagotière, for instance, where units were delivered last November only, inhabitants have been facing sweating problems since the passage of cyclone Gamede. The NHDC, whose representative made it clear that it was only the "promoter" for these houses, explained that it would take remedial action against the entrepreneur to understand where the problems lie.

This is a good initiative because children can?t continue being exposed to diseases, rats or mosquitoes. Something should also be done to prevent the perception that no one is taking care of those housing units because they have paid only a small sum to have a roof over their heads.

It is true that the inhabitants should be responsible and make sure they maintain their own premises. It is also true that the NHDC can?t be liable for all the problems occurring in there. This is why there is a need for all involved to shoulder their responsibilities.

This starts, of course, with the owner of the unit and should end up with the concerned authorities. The sewage problem, for instance, has been a major problem throughout the country for years and no solution has been found yet.

Gamede has pointed at the many difficulties some people suffer in many regions of the country. People have been walking in metres of water inside and outside their houses for days before it was completely evacuated.

?We will now build individual units to avoid such problems and many more from occurring?, reassures the chairman of the NHDC, Asutosh Gunputh. Hence, future NHDC inhabitants should not face the same annoyance as their predecessors. But what will happen to all those who are facing daily problems in their units?

They should not be given the impression that the government doesn?t care for them. Because such feelings can lead to (inexcusable) episodes like the one in ?Cypay Brilé? where MP Kalyanee Juggoo got stuck in her car for two hours. It is a matter of preserving social peace in the country? and of making everyone feel they belong to our society.