The Union Minister of State for Surface Transport, Highways and Shipping Pon Radhakrishnan said that the Centre has plans to encourage the domestic firms to start defence equipment manufacturing and over a period of time the dependency on imports of these items will be over.

“When that happens, it is likely to open up innumerable opportunities for entrepreneurs,” he said

He also confirmed the plans to widen the East Coast Road (ECR). The two lane road from Chennai to Kanyakumari along the ECR would be converted into four lane road, he added.

Radhakrishnan also said that there was a need to aware the people in rural areas of Tamil Nadu on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative of ‘Make in India’.