By IANS,
Mumbai : Fear of natural calamities like tsunamis should not hamper development activities in the country, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said here Thursday.
Sharply criticizing the staunch opposition to the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project coming up in Ratnagiri district, around 375 km south of Mumbai, Pawar said that Maharashtra badly needs more electricity to improve its industrial growth.
“Those who criticize the government for load-shedding should not oppose measures taken to boost power generation. We have to build power plants, whether nuclear-based, hydel or coal-based,” Pawar pointed out.
He was speaking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a Nationalist Congress Party conference to discuss the party’s strategies for the 2012 elections to several local bodies in the state, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
“We have not stopped constructing houses because of earthquakes. Lakhs of homes were destroyed during the (1994) Latur earthquake, but we re-constructed more in their place,” Pawar said.