FM URGES STATES TO FOCUS ON INFRA, ELECTRICITY SUPPLY

NEW DELHI: For India’s industrial growth, states should focus on creating infrastructure and ensuring electricity supply round the clock at affordable prices, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday, assuring them of full support by the Union government.

“I assure on behalf of Centre all support for infrastructure. ₹7.5 lakh crore is allotted for this. Centre is ready to allot even more for infrastructure,” she said in Chennai. “But we should ensure industrial growth. All states should enhance infrastructure.” Sitharaman was in Tamil Nadu to participate in the Centre’s nationwide outreach programme to explain opportunities created by recently signed free trade agreements (FTAS) with the UAE and Australia. The finance minister’s assurance came at a time when several states are facing power shortages that are not only causing inconvenience to the people but impacting manufacturing. She also asked industry leaders to participate in meeting the country’s energy requirements through both conventional and non-conventional sources.

Many states have faced hours of outages this summer because of an unrelenting surge in power demand due to a heatwave and rapid economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic. The situation is expected to aggravate further during the monsoons if cash-strapped power producers do not have adequate coal inventories. Coal offtake from mines is typically affected during the rainy season.