Dear Editor,
Electricity in a home is a necessity as most if not all household gadgets need electricity to be operational. These household gadgets and appliances have become so affordable that almost every household has the basic electrical items in store, and depends on GPL to provide the electricity needed to operate the equipment.
Stealing electricity may be rampant in some areas, but in some instances, the management of the power company should be held responsible. Firstly, the requirements and documents asked for by the power company for the service to be made available to the applicant need to be revised in order to make it a simple process. Secondly, the network might be available in one village but absent in another village, even though those two villages are in close proximity to each other and neither of them is a squatting area. Here is a typical example. South of Grant Sand Road is another sand road known as Kallicharan/Bunkin Sand Road. These two roads are separated by a tract of land about 150 metres in width. Both of these roads start on the eastern side of the East Bank Public Road and run about one mile going east. On both sides of these roads are houses, churches, entertainment spots and even mechanical workshops. The difference between the two is that GPL has an installed network on Grant Sand Road and as such the residents living there are in receipt of electricity. There is no electricity on Kallicharran/Bunkin Road.
Since the GEC era, residents living along this road applied to have the service made available to them. With some advice from GEC, the residents brought utility poles and with the supervision of a pole-foreman (deceased) planted those poles, and even though some of those poles are still standing, there is no network in the area. Presently, the residents and home owners are willing to make monetary contributions/payments/deposits to cover the cost of poles, line and line-hardware to have the network installed in the area.
Secondly, unlike Grant Sand Road, there is no potable water supply on Bunkin Sand Road. A few years back, GWI carried out a survey of the area and promised the residents to have a potable water supply installed, but to date, that has not occurred. Grant Sand Road has a potable water network. What should be noted also is that the layout of the houses on both Sand Roads is similar and done in an orderly manner.
Finally, I do not think there is anyone who feels comfortable and safe stealing electricity and who would not prefer to pay to have the service provided legally and in a safe manner. I am therefore pleading with the management of GPL and GWI to make these services available to the residents of Kallicharan/Bunkin Sand Road, where I am also a home owner.
Yours faithfully,
Collin Gill