On demand electricity by 2012: Shinde

New Delhi, March 17 : Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said in the Rajya Sabha today that India would get electricity on demand by 2012, provided nuclear energy is available by then.

"At least 78,577 MW electricity generation capacity will be added during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) Period. The country had added 54,000 MW generation capacity during the last 15 years (8th, 9th and 10th Plans) adding the target for the 11th Plan does not include captive power plants being set up by industries," Shinde said.

The government proposes to introduce a restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP) in the 11th Five Year Plan to cut transmission and distribution losses.

The APDRP was launched in 2002-03 with the objective of encouraging reforms, reducing aggregate technical and commercial loss and improving quality of supply of power.

The Distribution Reform was identified as the key area to bring about the efficiency and improve financial health of the power sector. Ministry of Power took various initiatives in the recent past for bringing improvement in the distribution sector. 29 states have signed the Memorandum of Understandings with the Ministry to take various steps to undertake distribution reforms in a time bound manner.

ANI