Tweet
With respect to homes, the govt should cut the light first but give warning about cutting the water. Cutting water in a slum can cause serious disease outbreaks.
Customs, utilities target Kingston cheats
Published: Tuesday | June 8, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
A National Water Commission worker disconnects supply yesterday at a Princess Street, downtown Kingston, establishment for non-payment of charges. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]Reporter[/COLOR][/COLOR] Under cover of scores of police and soldiers patrolling the streets, revenue-protection agents from utility companies and the Customs Department swarmed west Kingston communities yesterday in search of cheats.
The Customs Enforcement Team seized several cartons of bleaching cream, [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]counterfeit[/COLOR][/COLOR] batteries and illegally imported cigarettes during the [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]operation[/COLOR][/COLOR] that focused on the many wholesale stores which operate on Princess Street, Luke Lane, Charles Street and other areas in downtown Kingston.
At least 15 illegal connections to commercial and residential premises were disconnected by the National Water Commission (NWC), while scores of unauthorised electricity connections were cut down by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), leaving some residents fuming.
"We willing to pay. If them did give we some notice and make some arrangement, we would pay, but them just come cut off the water and light, and these are essential," said Patricia MacMannus, a resident of Princess Street, told The Gleaner.
"Them could give us a flat rate and give us time to sort it out, but now mi children gone to school and them a go come home to no light and water," added Suzanne Chamberlain, who also lives on Princess Street.
No mercy
But the teams from the two utility companies were unapologetic as they moved from premises to premises.
"We came in targeting the places which have not been paying their bills for years," a representative of the NWC told The Gleaner.
"We are cutting supplies to everyone who is not paying, big or small," added the NWC official, as the team disconnected the water supply to a well-established juice-manufacturing plant on Princess Street.
It was a similar story from the JPS team, which severed the electricity supply to several houses in Matthews Lane.
"We are going to premises and checking for throw-ups and meter bypasses," a JPS official said, while using an elaborate device to assess the power going into a wholesale on Princess Street.
The NWC and the JPS have, for years, been losing millions of dollars because of illegal connections islandwide, with west Kingston accounting for a large percentage of the thefts.
Last week, a JPS official told The Gleaner that the west [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]Kingston[/COLOR][/COLOR] enclave of Tivoli Gardens and seven neighbouring communities were robbing the company of an estimated $271 million in revenue each year.
Hundreds of residents from these communities pay no utility bills, with some persons yet to pay a single electricity bill, although enjoying the service for years.
According to JPS records acquired by The Gleaner, fewer than 30 of the more than 4,000 residents in Tivoli Gardens are registered as customers.
Meter readers have traditionally shied away from these communities for fear that gunmen who abide there will exact retribution.
In the late 1990s, the JPS - as part of its effort to get non-paying persons in inner-city [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]communities[/COLOR][/COLOR] to register as legitimate customers - introduced a flat-rate pilot project in Tivoli Gardens, Central Court, Denham Town, Seaview Gardens and Torrington Park.
However, the project was short-lived, as it did not produce the desired results.
Names changed on request.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com
Customs, utilities target Kingston cheats
Published: Tuesday | June 8, 2010 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
A National Water Commission worker disconnects supply yesterday at a Princess Street, downtown Kingston, establishment for non-payment of charges. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer
Arthur Hall, Senior Staff [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]Reporter[/COLOR][/COLOR] Under cover of scores of police and soldiers patrolling the streets, revenue-protection agents from utility companies and the Customs Department swarmed west Kingston communities yesterday in search of cheats.
The Customs Enforcement Team seized several cartons of bleaching cream, [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]counterfeit[/COLOR][/COLOR] batteries and illegally imported cigarettes during the [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]operation[/COLOR][/COLOR] that focused on the many wholesale stores which operate on Princess Street, Luke Lane, Charles Street and other areas in downtown Kingston.
At least 15 illegal connections to commercial and residential premises were disconnected by the National Water Commission (NWC), while scores of unauthorised electricity connections were cut down by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS), leaving some residents fuming.
"We willing to pay. If them did give we some notice and make some arrangement, we would pay, but them just come cut off the water and light, and these are essential," said Patricia MacMannus, a resident of Princess Street, told The Gleaner.
"Them could give us a flat rate and give us time to sort it out, but now mi children gone to school and them a go come home to no light and water," added Suzanne Chamberlain, who also lives on Princess Street.
No mercy
But the teams from the two utility companies were unapologetic as they moved from premises to premises.
"We came in targeting the places which have not been paying their bills for years," a representative of the NWC told The Gleaner.
"We are cutting supplies to everyone who is not paying, big or small," added the NWC official, as the team disconnected the water supply to a well-established juice-manufacturing plant on Princess Street.
It was a similar story from the JPS team, which severed the electricity supply to several houses in Matthews Lane.
"We are going to premises and checking for throw-ups and meter bypasses," a JPS official said, while using an elaborate device to assess the power going into a wholesale on Princess Street.
The NWC and the JPS have, for years, been losing millions of dollars because of illegal connections islandwide, with west Kingston accounting for a large percentage of the thefts.
Last week, a JPS official told The Gleaner that the west [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]Kingston[/COLOR][/COLOR] enclave of Tivoli Gardens and seven neighbouring communities were robbing the company of an estimated $271 million in revenue each year.
Hundreds of residents from these communities pay no utility bills, with some persons yet to pay a single electricity bill, although enjoying the service for years.
According to JPS records acquired by The Gleaner, fewer than 30 of the more than 4,000 residents in Tivoli Gardens are registered as customers.
Meter readers have traditionally shied away from these communities for fear that gunmen who abide there will exact retribution.
In the late 1990s, the JPS - as part of its effort to get non-paying persons in inner-city [COLOR=orange !important][COLOR=orange !important]communities[/COLOR][/COLOR] to register as legitimate customers - introduced a flat-rate pilot project in Tivoli Gardens, Central Court, Denham Town, Seaview Gardens and Torrington Park.
However, the project was short-lived, as it did not produce the desired results.
Names changed on request.
arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
Comment