KEVON FELMINE
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
As T&TEC personnel walked around Ramdath Ramlochan’s yard yesterday, the flowers and flags he prepared for prayer on Wednesday remained under a shed.
Ramlochan wife, Sumintra Ramlochan, told Guardian Media that she was not home when her husband was electrocuted
The distraught wife chose not to rehash her last moments with the father of two.
Reports state that Ramlochan, 57, a maxi taxi driver operating the Penal/San Fernando route, was at his home in Charlo Village, Penal, around 2 pm Wednesday.
He was preparing for prayer and was walking in the yard with a bamboo stalk to plant a jhandi.
According to T&TEC, while Ramlochan moved with the bamboo, it contacted a 132kV overhead transmission line, and he fell to the ground.
A witness notified his relatives, who then contacted Penal police. A District Medical Officer later confirmed his death on site.
In a statement, the company said: “Senior officials and estate police from T&TEC visited the scene and expressed sympathy to Mr Ramlochan’s relatives. Injury to members of the public under such circumstances is an ongoing concern for T&TEC. We wish to use this opportunity to again remind persons to be vigilant and perform necessary safety checks when working around overhead lines.”
T&TEC advises people to keep ladders, scaffolding, roof beams, oversized materials of any type and body parts at least 15 feet from electricity poles and lines. It said that coming into contact with, or close to, overhead lines can cause electric shock or electrocution (death). While the lines are high, Ramlochan house and yard are situated on a hill.
Penal councillor Shanty Boodram, who was at Ramlochan’s home to offer condolences, lamented how the death came as he prepared for prayer.
Boodram said it was a holy period in the Hindu calendar as many were fasting for Navratri, and on Tuesday, they celebrate Hanuman Jayanti: the birth of Lord Hanuman.