Cheaper power to industry,agriculture must for growth: PM

India needs to bridge the gap between demand and supply of electricity and provide affordable power to industry and agriculture to ensure sustained economic growth,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday.

It is the only way to achieve higher rates of economic growth on a sustainable basis, Singh said after laying the foundation stone for the Rs 6,000-crore power equipment manufacturing plant at Mannavaram in Tirupati. A NTPC-BHEL joint venture,the plant will be ready by 2015. It will manufacture the power generation equipment including turbines,generators and boilers that is currently being imported.

Singh praised the untiring efforts of former CM Y S Rajasekhara Reddy for ensuring that the plant came up in Andhra Pradesh.

Later in the day,the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for Tirupati airports new international terminal.