Hun­dreds of work­ers in Port-of-Spain have been sent home from land­scap­ing, street clean­ing and com­mu­ni­ty main­te­nance pro­grammes, leav­ing the cap­i­tal strug­gling to main­tain es­sen­tial ser­vices, May­or Chin­ua Al­leyne has re­vealed.

Speak­ing at a Port-of-Spain Statu­to­ry Meet­ing yes­ter­day, Al­leyne said more than 500 work­ers were dis­missed and re­placed by just 12 staff mem­bers — a move he warned could jeop­ar­dise pub­lic health, san­i­ta­tion and pub­lic safe­ty.

He added that tens of thou­sands of sim­i­lar work­ers have been af­fect­ed across Trinidad.