No power shortage during Commonwealth Games: Dikshit

Delhi chief minister Shiela Dikshit Saturday assured that there will be no power shortages during the summer or the Commonwealth Games to be held in October.

"The city will become power surplus and there will be no shortage of power during Commonwealth Games and thereafter," Dikshit said at the two-day national seminar on power sector reforms.

Dikshit also told the discoms to purchase the power at whatever rates were available to avoid any shortages.

"It is a satisfactory fact that the per capita consumption in Delhi has increased from 1,259 units in 2000-01 to 1,615 units in 2007-08. The increased demand has been met successfully by arranging adequate power from various states," Dikshit said adding, this is the result of privatization of the power sector.

"This is an era of power trading. Delhi will get more than 1,400 MW power from Bawana project this year, around 750 MW from Jhajjar and 900 MW from NTPC Dadri. This will definitely suffice our demand. Apart from this, work on 750 megawatt Bamnauli project will also be taken up soon," Dikshit added.

Appreciating the private discoms for providing good service to consumers, Dikshit said: "Discoms in Delhi are now competing with each other to provide the best possible services to their customers."

Dikshit also expressed satisfaction at the fact that transmission losses have come down from 50 percent to 18 percent and urged people to save electricity.

Frustration will fuel Adlington's Commonwealth dream

REBECCA Adlington is ready to unleash four years worth of frustration on her rivals when she takes part in the Commonwealth Games trials.

The Mansfield swimmer might have won double gold at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008, but she is desperate to add Commonwealth glory to her CV.

Her bid to compete in 2006 in Melbourne was thwarted by illness that left her unable to make the qualification time.

And in an ironic twist, by the time the Games unfolded she swam a time in England that would have secured a silver medal in Australia.

But she has bottled up that disappointed and plans to use it to her advantage when the British Gas Swimming Championships begin on March 29.

She wants first place in the 400m and 800m freestyle to secure her place at October's showcase in India, without the need for the second trial.

And she feels ready to peak at the national championships in Sheffield, which also act as the European trials.

The 21-year-old said: "Training is going really well and for me, as a distance swimmer, I will start to come down slowly in my training to ensure I am ready.

"I have been racing at events while in full training. It has been a case of training, racing, training. I have been swimming through and I am not really a mid-season kind of girl."

That was the case at the recent British Gas GB v Germany Swim Meet in Swansea.

In the 400m teenager Jazz Carlin stormed home in 4:06.41minutes, with Jackson second and Adlington third. But she bounced back to claim the 800m in 8:42.46mins.

But she expects to be in peak condition at Ponds Forge and said: "If I win my event, it guarantees my place.

"We have also got the European Championships in August as well so it is a big, big year.

"I missed the Commonwealth Games last time but now I have my chance, I am stronger and I really want to experience the Commonwealths and make up for last time.

"It is in India and people say they are the friendly games. You have England, Scotland and Wales, there are more teams and you know your British team-mates but this time they might be racing for a different country. It is very different and one I want to be part of."

Adlington was thrust into the international spotlight after her heroics in China while still a teenager.

Last year she failed to land a medal in the 800m at the World Championships as she slipped to fourth in Rome after winning bronze in the 400m.

All the expectation took its toll as she fought back tears in her post-race interview.

But all the experience since the Olympics has made her stronger and she feels physically and mentally ready to handle the pressure.

"Since the Olympics it has all calmed down," she said. "Straight afterwards I did not have agents so I had to do everything myself, or my mum did it. It was so difficult.

"As soon as I got a manager and got organised, it has made it much easier for me to concentrate on my swimming.

"It was a case of I wanted to do all the stuff after the Olympics (television shows etc), it was a once in a lifetime experience and I enjoyed doing it. I do not regret doing it.

"There is pressure to do well but I am not the only one. Within Britain there are so many top swimmers like Jo Jackson, then there are huge names like Peligrini (of Italy). The spotlight is not just on me."

One constant from before the Olympics is her relationship with Nova Centurion coach Bill Furniss.

They have worked together ever since Adlington moved into the elite group of swimmers in Notts, years before she shot to fame. Adlington said: "Bill had never had a summer like that before, the Olympics, it was new for him.

"We both had to try to manage it and now we have to talk about things like managing expectation, as well as just the swimming.

"He is exactly the same towards me and I am the same towards him. It is no different. We know each other too well, it is such a long relationship. He knows when I am tired, I do not have to tell him."

As for Sheffield, Adlington has one thing on her mind.

"Obviously winning is the aim," she said, determined to book her air ticket to Delhi later this year.

"I am focusing on the race itself and since Beijing I have improved my 400m time but not my 800m, which for me is my main event. So that is what I want to do. The 400m is a bonus.

"It is exciting, I am looking forward to it."

Govt to ask for NGO help in rehabilitating city's beggars

The Delhi government is having trouble getting rid of the city's beggars before the Commonwealth Games. Attempts to get states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa to take back `their' beggars have been unsuccessful so far.

With space for only 2,100 beggars in its homes, no rehabilitation plan in place and the city teeming with thousands of beggars, the Delhi government is now hoping to rope in the voluntary sector to help rehabilitate beggars in the city and to facilitate their return to their native villages in other states.

The department of social welfare is planning on taking out an advertisement, asking for NGOs to help in the rehabilitation process. After a meeting with the social welfare secretary on Friday, chief secretary Rakesh Mehta said he has asked officials to prepare a plan with the focus being on the rehabilitation of beggars.

Mehta said beggars were being rounded up by mobile beggar courts from time to time. But he expressed concern about their future, saying they would have to be released after they had completed their one-year jail terms. So, the problem remains. Moreover, what happens when space in the government's homes for beggars is exhausted? Social welfare secretary Manoj Parida said there is space for 2,100 beggars in all the homes. Right now, there are about 900 beggars in these homes.

The government has written to the states from which most of Delhi's beggars come. But it has not got much of an answer. The chief secretary said states like Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have shown no interest in taking back their beggars. Uttar Pradesh and Orissa have also expressed their reluctance. Haryana and Rajasthan have not refused but they have responded vaguely, said senior officials.

Meanwhile, with no concrete plan to deal with the city's beggars in the run-up to the Commonwealth Games, and the debate over decriminalising beggary still on, the government, for now, is simply saying that no beggars will be allowed near the Games village and the sports venues.

While there is no comprehensive data on the number of beggars in the city, a 2006 study on beggars 5,003 of them were interviewed by the department of social work, Delhi University showed that 44.36% of Delhi's beggars had come from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, 4.96% belonged to Delhi, almost 30% of the beggars were found to be under 18 years of age and 69.94% were male.

The study pointed out that many of the beggars would quit begging if they got jobs.