Three persons have been arrested over the illegal connections that were discovered by power company employees in the Maraj and First Federation buildings on Thursday and criminal charges may soon be laid.
In the meantime, more investigations will be conducted and this could see the arrest of several more persons.
These raids were part of the Guyana Power and Light’s (GPL) exercise to rid the city’s commercial district of illegal power connections.
GPL’s Managing Director Bharrat Dindyal yesterday confirmed the raids to Stabroek News as well as the arrest of the three persons, who according to him are tenants.
Dindyal said that one of the persons was arrested in the First Federation building while the other two are from the Maraj building.
According to him when the teams arrived at the locations a number of illegal connections were disconnected. While he did not state a number, sources have told Stabroek News that at least 25 illegal connections were discovered in the two buildings. Businesses, educational facilities and a barrage of lawyers’ offices are located in the buildings.
According to Dindyal, the connections were attached to an internal distribution network on the various floors. Asked why more arrests were not made if the illegal connections were found in various rooms, the Managing Director pointed out that when persons saw the police, they went into hiding. He however pointed out that his employees took video footage at both locations.
The plan, he said, is to configure the system so as to decrease the likelihood of persons stealing electricity or accessing free power.
Dindyal labelled the buildings especially First Federation “totally unsafe” and he pointed out that advice will be sought from the Chief Electrical Inspector on whether it is safe to continue offering their service there.
He added that the employees are still trying to figure out the set-up in the buildings as some sections have a meter and it has been discovered that power has been connected to various sections from multiple locations. In some instances he added, the illegal set-up was running through windows at the First Federation building.
Dindyal told Stabroek News that efforts are being made to contact the owner of Maraj building to discuss the current standards there and to see if he is willing to upgrade the electrical architecture.
He said that GPL had conducted several raids at the First Federation building over the years and in each case disconnections were done.
Second visit
Meanwhile, GPL employees visited the locations a second time yesterday. This was confirmed by Dindyal who pointed out that no more disconnections were made.
When Stabroek News visited the three-floor Maraj building, a GPL employee was inspecting a meter on the ground floor.
One woman said that she is aware that GPL employees were in the building on Thursday but did not know for what reason. Yesterday morning, she said that a man wearing a GPL badge was looking at a meter located just outside the entrance. He later told her that he was there to do some inspections and asked to see her recent light bill.
After looking at it she said, he ventured further into the building.
Another woman who operates a business on the ground floor stated that about six GPL employees in the company of a uniformed policeman came into the building yesterday and were looking at meters.
She said that as far as she knew one man was arrested and they were looking for another.
The woman alerted Stabroek News to the many exposed wires particularly on the second floor.
She stated that the businesses on the ground floor have the new meters but those on the other floor still have the old ones.
Over at First Federation building, it was business as usual though the ground floor was a bit dark.
One woman who operated on that level said that she does not have a meter and has no need for electricity.
Stabroek News was told that many of the rooms in the building do not have meters but still have electricity.
Massive
campaign on
Dindyal during the telephone interview said that there is a massive campaign ongoing in Georgetown where the commercial district is being targeted.
He said that the intention is to sort out this district meter by meter, to get rid of all illegal connections and all those who are stealing.
So far operations have been conducted on businesses on America and Longden streets and while no arrests have been made, Dindyal said that they have video footage.
He said they are seeing the connections but are clueless as to their source. In one instance, he said, GPL employees had to go through treacherous routes to locate two meters, one of which was discovered stolen from a Charlotte Street location.