New Delhi, January 17
The Delhi government today said that the Centre has agreed to consider its demand for hiking its share in central taxes from the current Rs 325 crore to Rs 3,500 crore and treating the Capital on a par with other states on funding from the Central Finance Commission.

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit made these demands at a pre-budget consultation meeting with Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram yesterday.

In the meeting, Dikshit demanded a substantial hike in the central taxes share which has frozen at Rs 325 crore since 2001-02 despite the size of annual plan going up from Rs 8,973 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 33,436 crore in 2012-13.

She also urged the Finance Minister to consider Delhi on a par with other states as far as direct funding from the Central Finance Commission to its civic bodies is concerned.

"We said in the meeting that our government through better tax administration in VAT, excise, registration of properties and motor vehicle tax has been able to generate its own resources to fill up the gap arisen due to inadequate share in the central taxes," she said.

Chidambaram assured that the government would give due consideration to the issues raised by the Chief Minister. Delhi has enhanced its internal resource mobilisation to a huge extent in the past 15 years. It has been frozen at the astonishingly low figure of Rs 325 crore.

"The amount of Rs 325 crore was fixed when our annual budget was Rs 8,973 crore in 2001-02 and the same figure has been maintained even though the annual budget rose to Rs 33,436 crore in 2012-13. The share should be fixed at Rs 3,500 crore as Delhi requires additional funds," she said.

New Delhi, January 17
A working model of a Metro train displaying its movements through underground, elevated and at grade corridors was unveiled by the Managing Director, DMRC, Mangu Singh, at Delhi Metro Museum at the Patel Chowk station today.

Apart from this, the top 10 smart card users of the Delhi Metro and some volunteers of the Metro Citizens' Forum were felicitated on the occasion.

"The model depicts the real-time operating scenario of a Metro system complete with wiring, tracks and much more. It has been designed meticulously to give the visitors a feel of the actual movement of a Metro train," said a spokesperson of the DMRC.

New Delhi, January 17
Unhappy over frequent loadshedding this winter, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today told the discoms that outages in the dead of summer would not be 'tolerated' and asked them to keep the Capital's roads well illuminated throughout the year.

"It is for the discoms to concentrate on maintenance which continues to be poor despite the existence of SCADA system. The government would like to have a social audit of the present streetlights," she said.

Dikshit said that the government will assess the extent of improvement next month.

Talking tough with the officials of discoms and Delhi Transco Limited, Dikshit asked them to tie up for additional power supply to avoid outages anywhere in the city, especially in summer.

"It is time to perform, otherwise the discoms will have to face the music," an official statement said. Dikshit expressed her displeasure over a series of outages even in winter despite the peak demand being only 3400 MW. This has exposed the claims of discoms on having suitable tie-ups to requisition additional power as and when required, she said.

Chairing a meeting to discuss an action plan for uninterrupted power supply, she said the city government generally faces the public ire during unscheduled power cuts.

New Delhi, January 17
The approaching Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) election after a gap of six years has failed to cheer the community members who depend on the committee-run schools for their children's education.

Dissatisfied with the functioning of the DSGMC-run schools, most parents, students and staff members complained about the "fast deteriorating" educational standards and lack of proper grievance redressal mechanism.

Balwinder Singh, a south Delhi resident who withdrew his son from a committee-run school two years ago, said, "Lately, the committee has been spending more money in lacing up gurdwaras with gold instead of investing it in the community's educational needs."

The committee manages 13 Guru Harkrishan Public Schools and five aided schools in the city. They cater to nearly 30,000 students. Parents and students allege that the same schools most sought-after once are now plagued by instances of favoritism, high admission fees, recruitment of under-qualified teachers, etc.

Back in September 2011, a High Court directive slammed 12 GHP schools for not adhering to the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission. The staff of GHPS, Fateh Nagar, also resorted to strike last year for not getting salaries.

"This year, we hope that these issues would get highlighted in the election. Even after holding strikes, salaries have not been paid regularly for the last six months," said a teacher.

Gurpreet Singh, a former student at GHPS Vasant Vihar, said, "The fee was as high as that of any convent school. The situation has only deteriorated now. What's worse is that students think no end of themselves if they know anyone close to the committee members."

"Any Sikh family having money would consider sending their children to any private school than a GHP school. Concession to EWS candidates isn't given unless someone pulls strings for you," added Mandeep Talwar, a parent from Mayur Vihar who

didn't even consider applying to the GHP schools.

Last year, the Delhi High Court had said that as per the Section 2 (H) of the RTI Act, the DSGMC was constituted under the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1971, an enactment by Parliament. The verdict stated that the DSGMC comes under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI) as it was a "public authority".

However, DSGMC officials maintained that they would move the Supreme Court as most of the RTIs filed to seek information about it were "politically motivated".

New Delhi, January 17
The Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) president Paramjit Singh Sarna today released the manifesto of his party for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) election to be held on January 27. The manifesto lays stress on education.

While releasing the 12-page manifesto, Sarna said he had fulfilled all the promises he had made in the last election. If his party is voted to power again, he will open Guru Teg Bahadur University for the community in 100-acre land at Fatehabad in Haryana. In this university, 50 per cent seats will be reserved for the Sikh students.

He said devotees who want to visit gurdwaras in Pakistan have difficulty in getting a visa. Now they will be issued a special passport which requires no visa for visiting shrines in Pakistan. Sarna also assured that his party would open a high-tech museum at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib.

While releasing the manifesto, Sarna said that if the SAD Delhi is voted to power, a bus will be started for the devotees to visit the gurdwaras in Delhi free of charge.

He also assured that he would work out the problems at Bala Sahib Gurdwara in order to run the Guru Harkrishan Hospital. Besides, a medical college and a cancer research institute would be opened at Bala Sahib.

Public schools in the colonies where Sikhs are in large numbers will also be opened. Tuition fee in these schools will be quite reasonable, he said.