<span style="color: #222222;">Union Minister for Power RK Singh has chaired a review meeting to devise a multi-pronged strategy to ensure adequate availability of power during the upcoming summer months. The meeting held on Tuesday was attended by senior officers from the Power sector, the Ministry of Coal, and the Ministry of Railways. </span><br />''<br />''During the meeting, the Power Minister asked all stakeholders to closely monitor the situation and take proactive actions to meet the electricity demand during the coming months. The Power Minister has also asked the Power companies to ensure that there is no load-shedding during the summer months. Mr. Singh also asked Central Electricity Authority (CEA) to ensure that a fair and transparent mechanism is devised for the allocation of coal to various States/UTs.<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">As part of the strategy, the Power Utilities have been directed to undertake maintenance for coal-based power plants well in advance so that no planned maintenance is required during the crunch period. During the meeting, Member Railway Board assured the availability of enough rakes for the transport of coal and agreed to provide 418 rakes so that sufficient coal stock can be maintained at power plants. The Ministry also directed NTPC to run its 5000 MW gas-based power stations during the crunch period in April-May.<br />''<br />'' As per estimates of the Central Electricity Authority, the peak electricity demand is expected to be 229 GW during the months of April-23. As per the Ministry with GDP growing at close to 7 per cent, the power demand has been growing in the country at close to 10 per cent per annum. </span><br />