Public Utilities Minister Barry Padarath has revealed that a WASA employee was among nine people arrested for acts of vandalism against WASA equipment in Tobago.
He condemned the act, saying that discussions have already commenced to create stricter penalties for such acts within the WASA Act.
““I have spoken to the Honourable Attorney General that a lot of our fines regarding the WASA Act are outdated, and therefore those are things that we need to look at,” he said.
“Apart from possible jail time, possibly taking it through, ventilating it through the courts. We also have to look at the issue of fines. It cannot that persons are stealing water from WASA and the fines are $275. A number of those things, a suite of legislation, will come.”
Mr Padarath agreed with Chief Secretary Farley Augustine’s characterization of the acts as “terrorism” and branded the actions as “treason.”
“I want to also say that I believe it was an act of treason for persons to commit these sort of acts against the State apparatus.”
