Mrs Ram Mirchandani (r) on location with Minister of Health Donville Inniss – photo credit: Nation
The decision by the Ministry of Health to direct the owner of Furniture Limited Mrs Ram Mirchandani to clean-up her establishment must be commended. It is an action which is decades late in coming. While it is unfortunate this government had to be coerced into making the decision by citizen lobby, credit is still due.
Over the years Barbadians have marvelled at how Mrs Ram Mirchandani seemingly was allowed to transgressed laws designed to protect. For example, how was she allowed to operate the Liquidation Centre on Lower Bay Street and in the process impede traffic caused by lorries and bobcats engaged in loading and offloading activities in the left lane? What about the hotel at Oldbury in St. Philip built with a Games Room which many believe was deficient if safety and health rules were to be applied? What is the purpose of our regulatory bodies anyway?
To understand what has contributed to Mrs Ram being able to acquire wealth in Barbados, one has to appreciate she is a past President of the Barbados Manufacturers Association and has had a close association with the Barbados Chamber of Commerce. No doubt she has contributed to the coffers of both political parties and the media has long held the lady who wears the sari in awe because of the alacrity she is willing to sue. If you are able to win favour from the political directorate and Fourth Estate then the path is clear to do whatsoever will.
Kudos to Minister Donville Inniss who must have given his consent for the public health offers to make the move.
You really think that Donville gave consent to the environment officers permission to go into Kirplani’s. They went in there unknown to him and she called him to intervene. Knowing how that woman operates, I believe that is what went down. Hope they shut it down forever.
@Prodigal
who else would have approved such action. The point is, heiis fearless, while for fourteen years your party allowed that lady to do as she pleases and when action was to be taken, the Minister did not sanction the action.
So praise the man for taking the necessary action to correct a dangerous situation. When i was a young man, very early in my then career ,I came in contact with Mrs. Ram and she told me that every body had a price ,and i retorted that i am one who is priceless.
So put your tail between your legs and retreat you miserable loser.
I hope they don’t close down Furniture Limited cause I would be at a lost as to where in Barbados to get CHEAP rats to buy. Someone told me the rats in there so blasted big they look live small dinosaurs.
it would have been priceless to see how she responded . i wonder who she plan on suing .
@ Rat in a chicken
you funny as s h..t lol
bonny peppa is that you. sounds awfully familiar. bonny used to says when Ram is angry she blows up like a bull frog.
@ blogger2012
You took the words right out of my mouth 14years of mediocrity from the BLP
Can’t blame anyone party for the Ram issue, that place was opened many years before the BLP came to office in the early 90’s. That place wanted closing from the time it was opened, many times during the tenure of both parties, the fire service wanted to make drastic changes to locked doors but that lady was/is in both parties pockets. I guess we would hear if we really come down hard on her, she would go out of business and many workers would suffer; they are already suffering by working for her.
Whether we want to admit it or not the action occurred under the current government and minister.
The important point to take on board is that the damn place has to be shut down.
I seldom make comments on these types of public situations, BUT, this WOMEN has been, and IS* a PARASITE to B’dos, one sweet talking, devious, clever, milker of poor Bajans.
She was asked, according to the press, to make a comment by the Minister after he had spoken, her retort was, “I am not a politician like you…” Well, well, this women, has NEVER over the past forty odd years, being at a lost for words, her slimy rhetorical skills, could easily MATCH any politician, EVER, but this RAT INFESTED, NASTY, utterly unhealthy MESS of a store, seems to have left HER ‘voiceless’ for the first time in 40 years, as it has been EXPOSED.
BTW, where was Sir Roy (BWU) all this time? That workers health, was so DAILY exposed to such serious FILTHLY conditions for DECADES?
Talk about an Egyptian Jew! What about the Indian Hindu, Guru?
@BLOGGER 2012
Pardon me your slip is showing.Mrs Ram was in Bdos since the ’60’s and is a keen supporter of the DLP since Errol Barrow days..she is no BLP fan.Further she runs rings around the BWU.The knight drives a beamer and lives well.His cohorts know how to extract favours from hotels,supermarkets,food suppliers withour paying a cent.Mrs Ram’s customers are more often the poor working class bajans hence she treats them with scant respect.Her outlets are extremely disorganised,almost impossible to clean as every nook and cranny has merchandise.Compare Mannings,Carters’,H&B, for organisation and cleanliness..Furniture Ltd has one entrance and exit and I’m amazed that the Fire Service never looked in there.It’s kudos to the fearlesness of the Environmental Division.Nothing to do with Donville Inniss but he saw an opportunity to pretend he is tough and putting Mrs Ram on her back foot,looking for votes.
Come on BLP yardfowls , call a spade a spade- Donville Inniss is by far the best Minister Of Health this country has seen in the last 20 years -He is a doer,addresses problems and issues directly and decisively. That is the kind of public representation that we should commend.He made the right decision and has stuck to it. Put Barbados and the health of the workers before partisan politics and say well done Mr. Minister!
It’s about time, people have been complaining about that stuff bin for years. Did someone say that the workers are unionized? Bajan workers are quick to walk out at the slightest provocation, how come those workers never walked out?
Is it ok to sing that song now? Still all in all better late than never.
@Sargeant
Workers at Furniture Limited are extremely loyal. Also there is a group of poor/working class Barbadian who make Furniture/Handyman Hardware top of the mind for shopping.
GO DLP! good job the next sixmonths gonna be interesting. onions look out! tell OSA he might be leader in the poll only when all is said and Done. HOO! HOO! 14years of mediocrity steep in a BOWL of PERCEPTION
Rat in the Kitchen | June 4, 2012 at 8:00 PM |
I hope they don’t close down Furniture Limited cause I would be at a lost as to where in Barbados to get CHEAP rats to buy. Someone told me the rats in there so blasted big they look live small dinosaurs.
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I’ve never seen rats in Furniture Ltd, but from the size of the rat droppings I’ve seen , they would have to be the size of pitbulls
Despite this courageous act, we must realize that at the end of the day we have more persons on the unemployment list. Once again the DLP has caused more pressure upon the lives of poor people. It is great connection between the Dems in power and poor people suffering, high cost of living, more businesses closing and higher unemployment.
When are we going to learn that this government is not for the poor man? Again DLP = Death Looks Possible. Let us get them out before we all die.
@Bajan it is not always about money. Yes those employees are going to be out of a job but look they are going to be healthier for it. They are paid $200.00 a week or less, bus fare minimum is $24.00, then you have to take out lunch money, groceries and pay bills. When you have to attend the doctor for whatever stinking disease you pick from down there ya still can’t afford it. Look stan home out of all the filth suffer for a while but at least you will live healthier and longer, that stinking rat trap wanted closing down ever since. I don’t know how Donville Inniss only notice it, just when elections roiund de corner. But he did his job
According to the press this morning Mrs Ram lock off her doors yesterday, laid off and sever some people and announced she reopening in December after renovations.
Well well well…dat was Quiks…….wid real LIME juice..voters sent home……hmmmm……campaign money..hmmm….mek she push down de ole musty building now DO !
this is not a political issue
the store opperated this way in the government of:
Errol Barrow Dlp
Tom Adams/Bernard StJohn BLP
Barrow / Sandiford Dlp
Arthur Blp
Thompson / Stuart DLP
Business as usual until now
Al the public complaints of the establishments are a big Joke if the same public is not willint to patronise the se businesses. business would not exiost without sales and these exist with handsome profits.
Let me be specific, to be critical and not be willing to eat the food at the hotel but still goo there and spend hard earned money to support them is to give support and encourragement.
most of the time we are our worst enemy
@David
“To understand what has contributed to Mrs Ram being able to acquire wealth in Barbados, one has to appreciate she is a past President of the Barbados Manufacturers Association and has had a close association with the Barbados Chamber of Commerce.”
________________________________________________________
I think that there ar a number of past Presidents of the Barbados Manufacturers Association who would disagree with the nexus that you have presented here – that being a President automatically helps you aquire wealth. Most Presidents that I know of took the job to prevent Ms Ram from getting it again!
@Peltdownman
Obviously they did not use the position to network and solidify their power bases like the lady who wears the sari…lol.
@Preety Blue Eyes
The minimun wage is 259.00 weekly and that increase was legislated by this government
$250.00 is the wage and not 259.00
@Richard King
Your point is?
action has been taken and that whats matters, it is better late than never. Do u comprehend what I am saying?.
@AC
i love stealing your ideas. look how you and I used to have it on the AX issue and now we like a tag team destroying the ignorance posted by these BLP bloggers, and you notice tsometimes retreat and come back come out
with their guns blazing, and when they see the lazer guided missiles that you and i secretly worked on, they want to steal our scientic knowledge, but if they try to infiltrate my database with my technolgy, i will unleash my virus on them that will keep them quiet for a while, How yah like dah, a like ah becoming bright nah.
Going to visit my constituents. wait thought I miss my friend Robert Ross, and you notice that lemuel like he hibernating. I think he hibernating for too long.
!
I love yor blogs, please dont call them yard fowls. Yard fowls are musch sought after commodity and they are being sought.
….brasshole
Accost Sir Lancenot accost
Herein lies the sembles of trife
Brass en
Howls ensemble..
Fait them not..
Some but once a man
Then deny not
Thrice a child maybe,even wear a frock
Goodness gracious not.
Three questions:
Do we know for sure that Donville was there to give the inspectors moral fortitude in the execution of their jobs?
He and Ms. Ram seem kind of chummy in the photo.
Why is it that we assume Mrs. Ram to be wealthy?
How was Ms. Ram able to accumulate this assumed wealth?
Tell me again for it seems this can be done without being white.
@John
That strategy to deal with that issue was long in coming, and the fact that he would have signed off on it means that he gave his officers his support.
The reason why she might have accumulated so much wealth is the white financial institutions would have supportee her with ease, while such instituons give black people hell. Further, your group would not see that ethnic group as a threat to your survival.
When I was looking for my first summer job in 1070, my guidance counsellor advised me and other students not to work there.
The place and the employer was seen as not nice even then. In 1970 Donville was a schoolboy (or not yet born) as were all Ministers of Health for the last 10 to 20 years.
But maybe the woman is not bad, maybe she is mad. Maybe she has “hoarding issues” I believe that the manual used by psychiatrists to define mental illness will add “hoarding” as a mental illness in its next edition.
1970
I’ll like the Min of Health to go the whole hog and clean up Bay St. too. Clean up the filth on the inside and clean up the blockage the company causes by parking their vehicles in a traffic lane AL DAY>
I wonder what items of significant monetary value is being hidden amongst all that organised clutter she has at her stores. Maybe we should wonder why the stores were closed so quickly, was it to prevent the inspectors from finding the real things she is actually selling? I don’t know I am asking a question.
John | June 5, 2012 at 4:34 PM |
Three questions:
Do we know for sure that Donville was there to give the inspectors moral fortitude in the execution of their jobs?
He and Ms. Ram seem kind of chummy in the photo.
Why is it that we assume Mrs. Ram to be wealthy?
How was Ms. Ram able to accumulate this assumed wealth?
Tell me again for it seems this can be done without being white.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++John,
I have noticed that there is an increasing shift in the monetary wealth as well as significant property holdings among the muslim community in Barbados. I hope that Black Barbadians are watching this development and be prepared to deal with the coming consequences. One only has to look in Pine Gardens, Wansted, and Husbands communities amongst others to realize the growing population and the Mosques that are going up. A quick check would show the significant property owned at the corner of Clairmont and Husbands Road and the increased buy out of properties in Pine Gardens, I guess the ancestors would roll in their graves to realize that a black person bought the house that their fore-parents would have only cleaned for a living. And no I am not racist, just mentioning what I see as a developing trend.
Minister Inniss warned today that his ministry will be putting ‘Old People’s Home’ under the microscope, NEXT.
It was reported in the newspaper today that the proprietor has closed the business pending “renovations” so the cleaning has been effectively curtailed. I am at a loss to understand the regulations, a promise to renovate sometime in the future doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away, all it means it that it is a grace period for the vermin and they can multiply at leisure. If the Inspectors found that the place was unfit for human occupation or habitation it should be brought up to acceptable standards and the owner should be billed accordingly. If the owners chooses to padlock the place after the “cleaning” that is their prerogative.
Right now Uromys Rex has sounded the “all clear” and it is BAU (business as usual)
Power to Donville Inniss he do what many men and woman could and would not do. Big-up the man. The next PM of Barbados….
Who pays Mrs. Ram’s staff now she has closed?
Guess it will be GOB through NIS.
nasty stinking dust filed garbage for sale .thieving nasty woman.
oh well it is bajan Negroes so we Indians are better than them attitude.
about time go back to India.
The point which Sargeant made on this or the other blog is worthy. If Furniture Ltd was placed under a healthwatch and Mrs Ram ordered to ‘sanitize’ the place, how does her locking her doors and stopping the action violate the action?
wait wunna trying to find a loophole for them rats to get away. the minister has a right to enter to pursue to see if she has taken the necessary precautions as demanded what locks wuh. she should be locked up for conducting business in an enviroment that poses health risk to customers and staff alike. in any other devloping country she backside would be locked behind bars and her establishment would be closed, as far as i am concerned she is the BIGGEST of ALL the RATS! !
According to this Nation snip the MOH is not making sport with Miss Ram.
http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/mrs-ram-gets-warning/
To kill the estimated 1,000,000 rats in Bridgetown it makes sense to naturalize where they incubate/feed.
Well done!
The Fire chief in the news stating that the premises has been closed because it is a fire hazard.
It has been a fire hazard since the 80s.
I refused to shop at that store when I was living in Barbados because it had no sprinkler system and no paths to the only exit I could see.
It is really stupid for the owner not to spend $50 thousand dollars to meet fire safety standards but go and build a multi million dollar hotel.
I may be slow today …. but what is the rationale behind controlling what Ms. Ram takes out of her own building?
I know a place in Bridgetown where 30 of the 1,000,000 rats could be found and it is not at the bottom of Broad Street!!!
@John
The order was invoked on the Furniture Limited principal/property. If the problem of rat infestation extends beyond it does not remove the obligation of Miss Ram to adhere to the order issued by the Environmental Unit.
I just don’t get the link between the rats and what she can take out of the store.
You can bet that Bridgetown has plenty rats and the rat infestation will extend well beyond Furniture Ltd.
When I read the Nation article from the url above there is not a mention of any rats in the article to establish a link.
Am I missing something?
@John
What is so difficult to understand? She is violated a directive from the Health Officials which has nothing to do with rats elsewhere. Can’t you fathom that if the building is thought to be infested that materials therein might also be infected?
Could it be that they need to inspect the contents just in case they contain rat nests with babies? In order to prevent increase of rats all contents must be inspected to eradicate all existing nests and babies?
Looks like the Ministry of Health’s next stop is Bridgetown, the whole of . With one million rats reported to be running amok in our fair City, the logical step would be to closed it down.
And that famous German town on the River Weser cannot helps us at the moment.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UTF-8&fr=crmas&p=Rats+return+to+Hamelin
We always wait until things get to crisis dimensions. African snails come to mind even the minibus problem.
To be honest ,I’ve never observed Mrs Ram with a machine gun outside of any of her establishments, forcing Bajans to come inside and shop.
Long ago we the people had more power than The Ministry of Health of the Fire Service in closing down Furniture Ltd,and keeping it closed,but like the man said on the Call-in programme so years ago,concerning the same lady, he does not see anything wrong in buying and eating ‘dead chicken’ so long as it is washed in lime and salt.
jane
hey . what about husband height ‘s family who sells container full of imported fruits to hawkers in the market . . do they have health certificate . ? or because donvile innis is their rep and friend . so everything seems to be fine . may be he is in the partnership . ha””””ha ””ha .
I did spend some years in Hameln — on – Weser, ( West Germany ) – never saw a rat – and I was looking – even at night, of course there are rats on the town clock as they circle behind the Piper but they are mechanical in nature and “attitude” . . . . but that was a long time ago.
I was at the cinema once in Belize – then British Honduras – and rats ran across the stage, everyone thought it was funny, highlight of the evening.
@David
Lord I doing my part this morning I harvested thirty AFRican snail they were so lovely, i was tempted to cook them for their protein but then my stomach started to revolt immediately so i gave up the idea.
I wish to advise those who are talking for talking sake get hold of the Health Servieces Act and see where the power lies.
http://www.nationnews.com/index.php/articles/view/rats-taking-over-the-city-street-beat/
The article begins
“RATS ARE SEEN in any major city, and Bridgetown is no exception.
However, the number of the pests can be directly attributed to the unhealthy practices of those upon whom the rats depend for food – humans.
The City and its rodent residents are the focus of this week’s Street Beat.
One of the worst areas appears to be the site on which the statue of National Hero Errol Barrow stands, Independence Square.
“I was taking out the garbage when one almost knocked me down,” said one National Conservation Commission (NCC) worker, who declined identification.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I was just going on pure instinct and logic when I reckoned it was not at the bottom of Broad Street that the problem was bad.
According to the article in the Nation they got a breed of rat near the top of Broad Street that could lick down a man.
So I am even more confused than when I started because I can’t get the rats in Bridgetown linked to Ms. Ram.
@John
Why do you want to link the rats to Miss Ram?
You did …. or atleast you tried to!!
I am glad you agree there is no link …. means I wasn’t going mad!!
@John
Did you read the press reports that rat droppings were found on the inside?
Here is another question John.
Why do you think this Miss Ram employee is outfitted this way?
http://www.nationnews.com/index.php/articles/view/mrs-ram-gets-warning/
David the news on page 5 of Barbados Today is a wth moment.
David | June 8, 2012 at 7:47 PM |
@John
Did you read the press reports that rat droppings were found on the inside?
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Rats get anywhere and everywhere.
My bet is you will find them in a hospital as well!!
Dusty bales of cloth could mean old non moving stock … no link to rats.
Yardbroom | June 8, 2012 at 5:08 PM |
I did spend some years in Hameln — on – Weser, ( West Germany ) – never saw a rat – and I was looking – even at night, of course there are rats on the town clock as they circle behind the Piper but they are mechanical in nature and “attitude” . . . . but that was a long time ago.
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And one thing I never saw in Hameln, or any of the other many German cities is unattended or open garbage, probably why rats cannot thrive there. A lesson we should learn.
@ Yardbroom
Ubique or Arte et Marte?
Ms. Ram is not my favourite person in the world either but it doesn’t mean innuendo canbe used to smear her and I will keep quiet.
Say what you like, the lady has guts.
… puts most Bajan males in the shade.
Colonel Buggy | June 8, 2012 at 9:54 PM |
Yardbroom | June 8, 2012 at 5:08 PM |
I did spend some years in Hameln — on – Weser, ( West Germany ) – never saw a rat – and I was looking – even at night, of course there are rats on the town clock as they circle behind the Piper but they are mechanical in nature and “attitude” . . . . but that was a long time ago.
**********************************
And one thing I never saw in Hameln, or any of the other many German cities is unattended or open garbage, probably why rats cannot thrive there. A lesson we should learn.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++=
First World vs Third World.
Hi Colonel Buggy, June 8, 2012 @ 9:59 PM
@ Yardbroom
Ubique or Arte et Marte?
“Ubique”.
Hi Colonel Buggy
June 8, 2012 @ 9:59PM
@ Yardbroom
Ubique or Arte et Marte?
“Ubique”
Asha , you have been caught girl
Lot of people laffing at yuh
Donville Inniss aint do this for no votes. He gine get back in because he is one of the best Minister’s of health we had in this country. Plus I does pass through his constituency (St. James South) occasionally and I wish I lived in there. Kudos to you Minister.
God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son to save the world AND Similarly SATAN has come in form of Mrs Ram to destroy the bejans and humanity. Salute to the minister from India an ex employee of the Satan Mrs Ram