Diamond/Grove residents blame outages on strike

Nov 25, 2010 News

One business entity displayed their damaged ice-creams and other frozen delicacies that were destroyed by the power outage.

Millions in food products spoiled

Residents of Diamond/Grove, East Bank Demerara are counting their losses after the recent abrupt power outages that struck the area since Tuesday.
Yesterday, sections of Diamond and Grove complained of the prolonged power outage that has affected their businesses together with their daily lives.
Collectively, businesses within the communities related that meat and ice-cream products in their fridges became spoilt, while residents in the area claim that their electrical appliances were damaged from the high voltage and the fluctuation of electricity.
Residents of both villages are of the opinion that the recent strike by GPL workers contributed to the delay in the power outage, since there was no manpower to maintain the system.
According to one resident, on Tuesday night he noticed that the electricity supply was erratic; the bulbs in his house functioned akin to fairy lights.
He said that after quickly turning off the main switch in his home, he realised that his microwave, television and stereo started to smoke. “What is really going on? Who will repay me for this damage?”
Another resident of Diamond, Daniel Persaud, said that after contacting GPL Garden of Eden branch, he was told that the electricity would return in a short while. However, hours passed and his fridge was defrosting. “When my sausages, chicken and beef spoil what will happen? Who can I go to at GPL for a refund?”
The owner of a Chinese restaurant said that he was lucky to have a generator, since all of his meat and vegetables would have spoilt. “But when there is blackout it is bad for business.”
“By the time you open and close your eyes the lights gone. Fifteen minutes later it’s the same thing again.” One Diamond residents said.
Another peeved GPL consumer said that the meat in his fridge was beginning to get soft and he had to carry it to his mother’s home in another village, where he used her refrigerator.
When GPL was contacted an official said that workers have found the problem and are trying to rectify the situation and that electricity should be returned to consumers of the Diamond and Grove area as early as yesterday.
GPL, in a recent statements, reported that all sectors of the utility company were affected by the strike action Tuesday. It noted that actions have been taken to limit the disruption to GPL service. It also gave a commitment given to keep consumer abreast of developments.
Hundreds of workers of the Guyana Power and Light Inc. (GPL) went on a countrywide strike as wage talks fell through. The hardest hit departments were the Transmission and Distribution and the Generation section, all crucial to the operations of the state-owned utility company.
The union called off the strike late Tuesday.

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