Speaking to Express Newsline, he points out that the Board's main problem is the maintenance of equipment. ``We are fighting to make a system that is inherently defective work,'' he says. ``Presently, the city requires 2,100 MW of power, but we have an installed capacity of only 1,100 MW.''

``However, perhaps for the first time in decades, we have ordered a complete overhaul of the overhead transmission lines. We have started by pruning trees which were obstructing high-tension wires and causing short circuits,'' he adds.

Sources in the DVB, however, say that even if Delhi were to get 2,500 MW of power from the northern grid, the Vidyut Board cannot handle this load. ``The northern grid offered to give the city as much power as it required during this summer as it was not facing any shortage. It is just that the DVB's generation and distribution system is outdated,'' they say.

The Indraprastha thermal and gas turbine and the Rajghat and Badarpur power stations seldom generate more than 700-800 MW when their capacity is said to be more than 1,100 MW. Singh explains this by saying that not much should be expected from the existing power generation units.

``These are old units and we cannot expect them to generate more than what they are doing presently. The machines are more than 30 years old and even their heaters don't work. That is why we are improving our transmission system,'' he says. According to him, the transmission lines will be able to take a load of 2,600 MW by the summer of 1999 as compared to their present capacity of 1,800 MW. The power lines should be geared to take 2.1 times their present load, but DVB member technical Y.P. Singh says that the Vidyut Board's lines are already overloaded, resulting in frequent faults. He, however, admits that with the improvement programme the system has already started behaving better.

DVB spokesman Jagdish Kapoor says that the frequency and duration of load-sheddings have gone down tremendously in October, November and December despite the huge demand for power in the winter months. ``In October 1997, load-shedding touched 29.7 million units. In the same period this year, it was a mere 14.2 million units. In November 1997, it was 13.3 million units, this year it was just 3.4 million units. Till December 15, 1997, load-shedding was to the tune of 6.9 million units, this year it has been just 2.6 million units till now,'' he says.

Singh adds: ``We are installing shunt capacitors to take care of voltage deficiency. There has even been a drop in the number of breakdowns.''

Elaborating on the Board's future plans, he says: ``Phase I of the Bawana project is being re-tendered and phase II is expected to take off within a month. It will start generating power in the next two to three years. The Pragati (350 MW) plant will start generating power after a two or three-year gestation period".