Centre has not ignored Tamil Nadu and its people, says Union Minister

BJP leader and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said here on Sunday that interlinking of rivers was the only solution to end the water needs of Tamil Nadu.

Stating that the BJP Government did not ignore Tamil Nadu and its people, Mr. Gadkari said that his Ministry had allocated ₹ 7.50 lakh crore for the State.

“Tamil Nadu is reeling under severe water scarcity. Interlinking of rivers can solve water needs. Interlinking of rivers will be a foremost task of the BJP, if it is elected to power for a second term,” said Mr. Gadkari while campaigning for NDA candidate for Coimbatore constituency C.P. Radhakrishnan.

Stating that the politics of the 21st century was that of development and progress, Mr. Gadkari said that unemployment and poverty should be eradicated.

While campaigning for NDA candidate for Pollachi constituency C. Mahendran earlier in the day, Mr. Gadkari stressed on the need to develop inland waterways.

“Apart from the distance covered during travel, the cost of road transport is anywhere between ₹ 14 to ₹ 16 for one km. Whereas, the cost of water transport is ₹ 1 per km. The national waterway from Varanasi to Haldia near Kolkata was implemented to tap such advantages,” said Mr. Gadkari. He added that high usage of inland waterways was one of the reasons behind China’s growth as an economy.

He appealed to the voters to elect NDA candidates to get various issues faced by the State including the water crisis represented in Parliament.