Latest update May 14th, 2024 12:59 AM
Aug 08, 2009 News
GPL removes power lines from community
By Michael Jordan
Residents of a Great Diamond squatting community are to seek government’s intervention in a long-running dispute with Toolsie Persaud Limited Company (TPL) over ownership of land.
The dispute escalated yesterday after a firm contracted by Guyana Power and Light (GPL) disconnected several power lines that GPL had installed some two months ago.
A GPL official told Kaieteur News that they were forced to remove the power lines after TPL stated that the land was theirs and threatened to take legal action against the power company.
GPL had erected the poles, power lines and transformers about two months ago as part of the company’s Unserved Areas Electrification Programme.
Some residents told Kaieteur News that they had wired their homes in anticipation of accessing power from the national grid for the first time.
“We feel so nice when they put up the poles,” one man who has been living there for some 20 years said.
“We want the President to intervene. We have children who going to UG and Cuba studying with lamp. This is real-eye-pass to poor people.
Ingrid Bowen, the Chairperson of the Great Diamond Housing Group, confirmed that TPL won a court dispute it had with the squatters about four years ago.
The squatters were issued with a court order to vacate the area, but Bowen said that a top Government official intervened and told them to stay there.
TPL is only claiming the northern section of the area. Squatters on the southern section of the same land are unaffected by the dispute.
Bowen told Kaieteur News that the residents have been occupying the land for over 20 years and have no intention of moving.
Late yesterday afternoon, the residents were selecting a delegation to meet with Government officials today.
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