CWG England chief sees no reason to pull out

STAFF WRITER 14:11 HRS IST

London, Mar 23 (PTI) Commonwealth Games England president Dame Kelly Holmes has criticised the British athletes who want to skip the October 3-14 mega-event fearing safety concerns, and said with positive security reports trickling in from Delhi she sees no reason for any pull out.

Holmes, the 2004 double Olympic gold medallist, cited the reports of an assessment team that visited the Indian capital to take stalk of the security situation and said the findings did not suggest pull out.

"I'm disappointed to say that hasn't abated and for some reason a few athletes have said they don't want to compete because of security concerns," Holmes was quoted as saying in the Daily Telegraph.

"We have a security team out in Delhi that are giving us regular reports and we haven't had one single report to suggest that we should be pulling out at this stage," she said.

CWG will be a big success, says Kamalesh Sharma

STAFF WRITER 13:3 HRS IST

London, Mar 23 (PTI) Secretary General of Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma has exuded confidence that infrastructure for the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be ready in time and hoped that the October 3-14 event in the national capital will be a "big success".

"I have confidence that the infrastructure for the Games will be ready in time and the Games will be a big success. It is for the Organising Committee to attend matters connected with the preparations of the Games," Sharma said.

Sharma was speaking to the reporters on the eve of his tour of India, during which he will meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and also hold discussions with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal.

Sharma will also attend a seminar on the future of Commonwealth Games and participate in a Commonwealth Writers' Conference in India.

No power shortage during Commonwealth Games: Dikshit

No power shortage during Commonwealth Games: Dikshit

New Delhi, March 13: 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. (IANS)