Measures helped India weather energy crisis amid ME war: PM

Bengaluru: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said steps taken in the last decade helped the country to sail through the crisis that emerged during the war in the Middle East.

He was speaking here after inaugurating various welfare projects worth over Rs 15,600 crore across Karnataka, including in renewable energy and petroleum infrastructure. The prime minister said the ongoing war in and around Iran and the Gulf region has demonstrated how important energy security is. "This has also been a challenging period for India."

"However, the steps taken over the past decade to strengthen energy security have helped us face this crisis with confidence," Modi told the gathering. He said the government has increased the production capacity for petrol, diesel and LPG; developed crude oil storage facilities; expanded solar, hydro and wind energy; achieved nearly 100 per cent electrification of the railways; and strengthened public transport systems such as the Metro.

The three projects inaugurated or launched in Karnataka on Friday will also give fresh strength to India's energy security, he noted. The LPG project in Mangaluru will increase the country's LPG storage capacity by 80,000 metric tonne, and the Devangonthi Marketing Terminal at Dodda Dasarahalli in Bengaluru will make the supply of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel more organised and reliable.

The Compressed Biogas plant in Bengaluru will produce around 13 tonne of biogas every day. This will improve waste management and help save the money spent on importing natural gas, he explained. The PM said India's renewable energy capacity has now crossed 300 gigawatts.

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The Hans India