RADHICA DE SILVA
After eight days of darkness at the Caroni (1975) bungalows in Ste Madeleine, T&TEC workers went to reconnect electricity to distressed pensioners on Friday.
But when they got there, cable thieves had carted away over $100,000 worth of electricity cables, making the reconnection impossible.
Speaking to Guardian Media afterwards, general secretary of the Association of Technical Administrative and Supervisory staff at Caroni, Kennedy Charran, said he was disappointed power could not be restored.
“The CEO called a short while ago and said a lot of cables were stolen on both sides of the compound. When T&TEC went to turn the power back on, they could not because the cables were stolen. They have to now replace these cables,” Charran disclosed.
He noted that a contract had been awarded to rewire all the houses at the company’s cost.
“I was told what would have cost Caroni $10,000 to fix before will now cost $100,000 because the cables were stolen,” Charran said.
He said something has to be done about cable theft, which is hampering productivity across the country.
“It’s not just TSTT cables but also T&TEC as well. I don’t know what the solution should be but there are security personnel on the compound. We are saying that security has to be enhanced so this will not happen again,” Charran said.
He said since the electricity went down after a transformer failed, thousands of dollars in food have been dumped by those affected.
“Elderly people over 65 have been suffering and are at risk of being raped, robbed and killed in the pitch dark rainy nights,” he said.
Charran called on Caroni to complete all necessary upgrades and allow residents to purchase the bungalows and pay their own electricity bills. The bungalows are still owned by Caroni (1975) and Charran said they have been waiting for 19 years for transfers.
“We want the works to be completed and a transfer made to the T&TEC grid so we can pay our own utilities. T&TEC needs all utilities to be upgraded before they could do the transfer,” Charran said.
Meanwhile, ATTAS president Washington Demas said life has been difficult without electricity.
“This is a traumatic thing. Unfortunately, one of the householders, Mr Cassiram, died this morning. We rely on the old factory powerhouse to get our electricity. Four transformers have already gone and only one is left standing,” Demas said.
“We have asked Caroni to put us on the T&TEC grid. If anything goes wrong with the last transformer, we will be totally out of electricity for a minimum of three months.”
He said Caroni has to rewire the houses because they were outfitted with ancient wiring systems.
Meanwhile, the former livestock manager at Caroni, Cyntra Ramcharan, also said they were frustrated with the attitude of the Caroni board.
“The Caroni Limited we have asked on many occasions to meet to discuss issues. It was highlighted in many letters and the stumbling block is the chairman of the board. The chairman needs to meet and discuss this with the union and bring a resolution,” she said.
She added, “We want to purchase these bungalows. We have lived here all our lives and we want to pay for our own bills.”
On Thursday, Caroni (1975) CEO Lionel De Chi said they were trying to restore power to the community as soon as possible.
