The progress of clean-up by teams of inmates and Fiji Corrections Service officers has been applauded by school principals, provincial leaders and members of the public.

Fiji Corrections Service acting Commissioner Kameli Ratuvakalevulevu said the teams had successfully carried out the task of cleaning up at various locations well before the given deadlines.

“Our officers who were deployed to Dawasamu, have completed the clean-up in the schools there. They were supposed to complete the operation in that area by the weekend but they finished their task ahead of time. All the teams that were initially deployed separately to the schools along the Tailevu coast have now regrouped and are collectively working on cleaning QVS,” he said.

Mr Ratuvakalevulevu said the team would then move on to schools and villages in the province of Ra.

Similar efforts are being made for areas severely affected in the Northern Division by TC Winston.

“The team that was deployed to Savusavu has completed their clean-up in that area. They managed to clean up at three schools and the hospital and are now focusing on cleaning up at Nabouwalu. This is a sacrifice on both the inmates’ and officers’ part and the priority is to ensure our children resume classes as early as possible,” he said.

Addressing inmates and officers cleaning up the Nabouwalu Government quarters last Saturday, Mr Ratuvakalevulevu thanked the inmates and officers for their hard work and called on all officers to be actively involved in the clean-up.

“At the same time, I would like to remind the officers to not only supervise or monitor the works carried out by inmates but to actively be part of that work – we need to hold hands and work together if we are to achieve the PM’s intent for the FCS during this emergency period,” he said.

CCO Filimoni Tavatavanawai said the response and support from civilians and communities towards the initiative by inmates and officers had been overwhelming.

Source: Fiji Corrections Service

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