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MINISTER of Local Government Khadijah Ameen scoffed that government MPs were "looking for headlines" as they complained about an $8 million reduction in the budget's allocation purportedly for garbage collection services in the capital city. Tensions brewed as the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives did a line by line examination of budget documents of spending and earning on October 21.

Port-of-Spain North/St Ann's West MP Stuart Young led the opposition's scrutiny of the estimates for Port of Spain City Corporation, during an examination of the estimates for the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government.

Noting the $8 million decrease for garbage collection and other services, Young said, "So it is not about hysteria. These are facts.