Union minister Nitin Gadkari today claimed that tolerance is in the blood of Hindus, who "have never tried to crush other religions".
"Some people are trying to create misunderstanding about Hindu religion...Tolerance and cooperation with different sections of the society is in our blood...We have never tried to crush other religions," Gadkari said at a religious function at Vatsalya Gram Center in Vridavan.
"Fundamentalists and terrorists are trying to eliminate our basic culture...Which says live and let others live," the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways said.
(Reopens MDS10)
Referring to the Centre's initiative to develop inland
waterways, Gadkari named nine rivers in Tamil Nadu, including the Cauvery-Kollidam River System and said work has been commissioned for preparing Detailed Project Reports for several of them.
These include Cauvery Kollidam River System (324 km), Tamiraparai (64 km), AVM canal (11 km), Bhavani (94 km), Manimutharu (5 km) and Vaigai (45 km), totalling 829 km.
Outlining other projects for Tamil Nadu, he said shipping and port related initiatives worth Rs 82,941 crore was on the pipeline for the state.
Stating that Tamil Nadu had the highest number of major ports in the country, "already three," he said, "we will continue to build on that strength and create more ports in Tamil Nadu."
Colachel in Kanyakumari District would be developed as a transhipment port at an investment of Rs 20,000 crore "which will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in Tamil Nadu," and work will start on it before year end, he said.
A port would be built at central Tamil Nadu and identification of its location was in final stage, he said, adding, "So Tamil Nadu has tremendous potential for import and export.
