The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is set to rule, at its next sitting, on the complaint against the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) over the electrocution of a ten-year-old boy in May. However the date of that sitting has not yet been determined.
The PUC sat yesterday at the Cara Lodge and heard from the family of Satyanand Balkaran, who was electrocuted while bathing, as well as Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GPL Aeshwar Deonarine.
A particular sticking point was the inability of the family to prove or GPL to disprove that a complaint about an illegal connection had been lodged at a West Demerara branch office of the company six months before the child’s death.
In view of Deonarine’s admission that walk-in customers are not issued with a reference number or other proof that they have made a complaint, the PUC advised that from hereon, GPL should implement a system whereby customers can prove a complaint was made and follow up if there was no response by the company.
Balkaran’s outraged relatives insisted that they had reported the illegal connection after the dead boy’s father was shocked by the wire that rested on a zinc fence he was repairing, six months before his son’s death. They said they will await the ruling of the commission no matter how long it takes.
On May 7, Balkaran was electrocuted while he was bathing in the yard at his Lot 17 Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara home. He was later rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
His mother Debbie Ramash, who broke down at the hearing, related to the commission that she was washing in the yard when she heard him scream. She added that she attempted to pick him up from the ground where he lay foaming at the mouth, but could not since when she touched him, she felt electricity running through her body.
The boy’s grandfather Lakeram Balkaran told the commission that he had made several complaints at GPL’s Vreed-en-Hoop office after his son Chandra Balkaran was shocked six months before his grandson’s death, while nailing the zinc fence. He said he went to the office in person twice and lodged a complaint about the illegal wire which rested on his fence. However, the man said, no one from the power company visited. When questioned he was unable to state when he made the complaints or to whom.
Chandra Balkaran blasted GPL for not responding to their complaints. He also expressed his disappointment that the house, where the suspected illegal connection was, is now receiving electricity from the power company.
Deonarine at that point explained that GPL was “obligated to” provide legal connections and if it weren’t up to the law the company would not have done so.
The angry father then opined that if the company had acted on the report, his son might not have suffered the fate he did. “I want justice for my son,” he declared.
When the PUC questioned Deonarine about the Standard Operating Procedure at the time the Balkarans might have made the complaint, he said that a reference number is generated in the system, but is not given to the complainant/ customer.
The commission then suggested that the generated reference number could be given to the customer, for follow up and proof of the complaint. When the commission enquired, Deonarine admitted that under the current procedure for the receipt of walk-in complaint, the only records are in the company’s system.
Therefore the commission concluded that it was possible that the family did make complaints to the power company six months prior to the electrocution of Balkaran, in the absence of any form of proof.
Liability
The question of liability was noted by chairman of the commission former judge Prem Persaud, who pointed to the fact that there might have been an illegal connection and GPL’s non-response might have contributed, “in allowing the illegal thing to remain there.”
Persaud said it should be considered too that most people lodging complaints may not remember to whom or when they did same.
When Stabroek News spoke with Deonarine after the hearing, he said he was happy GPL had been given an opportunity to state “the facts as they are,” and to allow the PUC to make a decision based on those facts. He further expressed his happiness that Balkaran’s family also had the same opportunity.
In relation to the advice as regards providing proof to walk-in customers, Deonarine said the company will implement that shortly. “I think that it is a wonderful idea,” he added.
