The Oxford Senior Secondary School in Vikaspuri has even sent a circular to the students asking them not to attend school for a day tomorrow because of ``non availability of water and electricity''. A class five student said that the school had been without water or electricity for over three days. residents in the area fear that this could be the first of many schools which might have to shut down.

The power situation remained dismal throughout the city today with many areas, especially in South Delhi, going without power. Gautam Sood, a resident of Panchsheel Park, had lost equipment worth Rs 60,000 in the last fews days due to low voltage. ``The voltage meters in the stabilisers shows that the low can go down to 0 volts and the high can be even 200 volts. That is the reason why our computers have crashed in the last three days, despite the voltage stabilisers,'' he said.Areas of Green Park and East of Kailash have also been in dark for the last 36 hours. Says Anil Mittal, a resident of East of Kailash, ``We had power for only a few hours in the afternoon and a few hours in early morning. We have had no power since 9 am today again.''

This morning staff at the Milap Nagar power substation in Uttam Nagar reportedly had to flee when an irate mob, from the area which had beenwithout electricity for a long time, threatened to turn violent.

DVB officials claimed that the number of complaints about power being made to the DVB's various complaint centres are now about 700 per day.

Sahib Singh said that officials from the DVB and water departments would go on DD-1 for five minutes everyday at 7.15 pm to inform residents about the water and power problems in their area and tell them how long it was likely to take for things to go back to normal.

He also announced the commissioning of new grid substations at HUDCO Place(16 MVA), Rohini Sector 23 (20MVA) and Nand Nagri (20 MVA). He also acknowledged the power problems faced by residents of Palam and said that a new 220 KV grid at Pappan Kalan would be installed which he claimed would alleviate the problems there. Residents of the area had blocked the railway tracks in an attempt to draw attention to their plight.

To improve the voltage profile the DVB had taken up installation of shunt capacitors. The Power Grid Corporation had installed 140 MVAR out of a required 150 MVAR shunt capacitors and the balance was expected to be installed by July 8. The same corporation had also been requested to add another 400 MVAR during this year.

He also announced the introduction of a voluntary disclosure scheme for Small Industrial Power Consumers (SIP) to declare tampered meters. If consumers make declarations by July 15 they would have to pay a charge of Rs 1500 per KW. If it is declared by August 14, the charges are Rs 3000 per KW and if they are declared by September 15, they would have to pay Rs 5000 per KW. ``Even if after that they do not declare their meters, cases will be registered against them,''said Sahib Singh.

The DVB has also decided to take up the electrification of house plots which were allotted to `weaker sections' of society on the basis of the 20-point programme. The original plot holders would not have to pay any development charges but those who purchased plots from the original holders would have to do so.

Giving details about the 600-650 MW Bawana Phase II Gas turbine project he said that three companies - Reliance, Ballarpur Industries and UnoCal of the United States had submitted bids for the tender and that the consultants hired by the DVB, ICICI would take about three weeks to scrutinize the bids after which the the Central Electricity Authority would examine the final proposal. DVB officials say that the process would take another couple of months after which the PPA (Power Purchase Agreement) could be signed.

Sahib Singh also announced that the Petroleum Ministry had provided the fuel linkage for the 300 MW Pragati power project. ``The project has been handed over to BHEL and it is hoped that it will be completed within a year.