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Electrocuted nine year- old…GPL says connection was illegal
The Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) has concluded that the exposed electrical wire that caused the demise of a nine-year-old Goed Fortuin, West Bank Demerara boy was an illegal connection.
Dead: Satyanand Balkaran
This is according to Bharat Dindiyal, Chief Executive Officer of GPL during a brief telephone interview with this publication, yesterday. However, he noted that since this matter has potential legal implications he could not divulge too much information.
He however said that GPL is convinced the connection leading from the utility pole to the house was illegal since that account was closed for a number of years.
Another matter of concern for GPL is that family members of the deceased claim that numerous complaints to personnel of GPL’s Vreed-en-Hoop branch about the wire resting on their zinc shed were ignored.
Two Wednesdays ago at around 19:00hrs, Satyanand Balkaran ventured into his yard in the company of his mother, Debbie Ramash and his older brother. He was supposed to take a bath while Ramash did the laundry but those plans were quickly shattered.
Satyanand collapsed in a pool of water near the “booby trapped” zinc fence that supported the zinc shed.
Ramash said she frantically ran over to her son and grabbed him but “a shocking sensation” caused her to drop him instantly. Her maternal instincts forced her to grab the child and place him on a dry area. Seeing froth coming out of the child’s mouth, she sent her older son to get help.
Ramash recalled that her neighbour assisted her to the West Bank Demerara Regional Hospital where doctors tried to save her son’s life. By 19:30hrs the boy was dead.
According to a relative, Rupert Balkaran, numerous complaints to GPL about the exposed wire that led from the utility pole to the neighbour’s house fell on deaf ears.
Balkaran claims that following the incident, at around 02:00hrs the next day (Thursday), a team from GPL visited the area and “tried to rectify or cover up the exposed wire”.
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