Saturday, September 2 2006 10:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Solapur (Maha): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday (Sept 1, 2006) said there is a need to increase power generation capacity in the country by six fold over the next 25 years to boost industrial development.

"Electricity is the most essential infrastructure for any industry and without it industrial development is not possible," he said after laying the foundation stone of the Rs 52.22 billion Western Region Grid Strengthening scheme at Chincholi, about 18 kms from here.

"The way India is making progress, electricity consumption is also increasing at a rapid rate. Some experts feel that energy consumption will increase six fold in the next 25 years. To meet this growing demand, we will have to increase power generation from the present 1.20 lakh MW to 8 lakh MW," Singh said.

The Prime Minister said efforts should be made to check electricity wastage. There was a need to concentrate on tapping sources like dams, wind, solar and nuclear energy to augment power generation, he said.

Singh said there were still several areas in the country where power has not reached.

"The Government has targeted to provide power to all villages in the next four years under the Rajiv Gandhi rural electrification scheme," he said.