A group of government officers have got together and are in the process of doing those little things which make all the difference in the end.

A task force, comprising representatives from NTPC, DVB, the police, district commissioners, labour commissioners and the Jal Board, was set up with Chief Secretary Omesh Saigal as its head honcho. Over the past eight months, the task force has been meeting religiously every Friday at 5 p.m.They have been able to network between various departments and now there is not just less load-shedding, but also better frequency of current. They still have the losses to deal with, but on the positive side, they have also started to push these back.

To begin with, DVB had a monster demand on its hands, which was eating up more power than they actually had on offer.

The winter demand was 2,400 Mega Watts and the summer demand was expected to touch 2,700 Mega Watts, 300 Mega Watts less than DVB's capacity. With unpaid bills to NTPC pending and heavy losses on its platter, buying power was not exactly the answer.

The solution lay in better management. People participation and networking government departments was how they went about things. And after the groundwork came the real work managing the electricity demand even when there was a heat wave on, regulating losses and public relations.

Though the consumption of power went up (44 Million Watts to 50 Million Watts), the peak demand never crossed 2,400 Mega Watts, showing an even curve for the first time.

The task force also identified peak demand timings between 6.30 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. Labour commissioners picked out 192 hotels, 185 nursing home, 144 public schools and convinced them to supplement their power during these hours.

Five star hotels decided to operate air conditioners on their own power. Radhu Place Cinema runs the evening show on generator. ``These little things helped to reduce and distribute the peak demand evenly,'' said Saigal.

Also, the government had staggered its office timings. Many offices were closing at 5 p.m. Delhi Jal Board was asked to push back its water-pumping schedule by one hour. Though these things are attempted every year, this year they were actually enforced. ``It was public interface which changed the attitude of the people and made them cooperate,'' said Saigal.

Every Monday morning, the district commissioner of a particular area would meet residents and their associations in a programme called Summer Plan '99. The result was that compared to 300 incidents of gheraoing of DVB engineers reported last year, there has not been a single one this year. ``The power situation is definitely better. There have been fewer breakdowns this year,'' said Ajit Singh, president of the Okhla Industrial Area.

The DVB also put fresh blood in its thinktank. Two IAS officers with M Tech backgrounds -- Puneet Goel and Rajeev Verma -- were appointed and worked as secretaries in the task force.

Verma, created a module for each district to do its energy-audit and analyse losses. And the district which cut down on losses the most was offered two months bonus. ``I sent letters to chief engineers commending them on good work and sent warning letters to those who were failing to make headway,'' said Saigal.

Goel was put in charge of a team of diploma-holders, who knew what they were about, that would focus on maintenance, an area which has so far been neglected. He identified ``230 feeders where there were 30 trippings or more, affecting the entire system''. The team says its problems were not so large scale.

In some places, branches had fallen on cables or in other, cables had been tied up by residents so that it would not trip. The result was that the entire grid would burn down. They have already set things right in about 100 areas.

The DVB also began conducting raids in posh residential areas like New Friends Colony almost everyday. Residents here were found to be paying disproportionate bills -- some houses had up to four ACs.

As many as 8,000-9,000 meters were replaced. Bills were delivered by courier, specially to industrial areas.