PSSC to meet on Sep 24, will discuss on capacity addition

New Delhi, Sept 20 (UNI) The Power Sector Standing Committee (PSSC) will meet for the first time on September 24 to look into capacity addition and financing issues, especially power funding under priority sector lending.

''The standing group of ministers will meet here on September 24 and will discuss various issues including the capacity addition,'' Power Secretary Anil Razdan told reporters in a conference.

The power sector needs an investment of Rs 10 lakh crore in the next five years, he said adding that there is a huge task of financing system.

In a bid to rev up the country-wide transmission and distribution (T&D) network Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently approved setting up of the specially-designed Power Sector Standing Committee (PSSC), comprising power ministers of five states including Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

The move was in conformity with the decision earlier taken at the chief ministers' conference on power sector on May 28, 2007.

The PSSC is functioning under the chairmanship of Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. A sub-committee of PSSC has also been set up under the chairmanship of the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

UNI