A panel of ministers is mulling over a plan to divert natural gas away from fertilizer producers to electricity plants to boost power production, Oil Minister Veerappa Moily revealed on Tuesday.

Various state of the India are suffering massive shortages of power as power projects worth more than $21 billion have been stalled by the lack of fuel.

It is the acute shortage of power in the country that has forced the government to mull diverting of gas from fertilizer producers to electricity plants because shortage of power has hit industrial production capacity, which in turn lowered the pace of the country’s economic growth to lowest in a decade.

Alex Mathews, from Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Limited, said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must rearrange priorities and place stress on increasing power production to boost economic activity.

Commenting on the issue, Mathews said, “The power companies are struggling because of the shortage and returns are pretty low. It’s a sector investors are keeping away from.”

Currently, the government prioritizes gas supplies to fertilizer plants, followed by LPG extractors and power generators. As of 31st of May this year, India produced 20,359 megawatts of power gas-based electricity generators, nearly 9 per cent of its total consumption.