Govt mulls tapping wind power at low cost: Gadkari

Vellore: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday said the central government has proposed to tap wind power from three ports in the country.

The proposal to tap wind power from Tuticorin, Kandla and Paradip ports has been discussed with the Power Minister R K Singh, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways Gadkari said after presenting the degrees at the 34th annual convocation of Vellore Institute of Technology here.

The plan includes establishing desalination plants at the three ports to solve the drinking water problem, he said.

Recalling his tenure as a water resources minister, Gadkari said he had taken steps to resolve various inter-state water issues but it was unfortunate that the dispute over sharing of Cauvery water between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka was not resolved.

He termed it as a lack of “political will” between the leaders of both the states in solving the dispute.

On the realignment of New Delhi-Mumbai Express Highway, he said it would connect the rural and tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. The project would be completed in two years ahead of schedule. And that is due to the political will of the government, he said.

Appealing to the new graduands to develop entrepreneurship skills, the Minister said they should not thinking of taking up new jobs but create new opportunities.

Dismissing reports of an economic slowdown in the country, Gadkari who also holds the micro, small and medium enterprises portfolio said he planned to create five crore more jobs from the present 11 crore in the sector.

VIT chancellor G Viswanathan said, “Though VIT had been recognised as one of the 10 institutes of eminence among private universities, his dream was to make the university on part with international institutions.