Speaking at a function organized by the Urdu Literacy Academy here Saturday, Chavan said that state government would make all efforts for the development of the Urdu language and the minorities.

Addressing the gathering, Chavan said: "As Urdu is the language of the entire country, it is necessary to ensure the progress and development of Urdu. For the development of the language, the state government has taken a decision to set up Urdu House in Aurangabad, Nanded and Mumbai. For this the government has procured land in Aurangabad and Nanded, while the government is trying to procure land in the Bombay University's campus in Kalina suburb of Santa Cruz," the chief minister stated adding that the Prime Minister's 15 point program for the welfare of the minorities as recommended by the Sachar Commission is being implemented.

In another development renowned Indian nuclear scientist and former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission and secretary, department of atomic energy, Anil Kakodkar dispelled fears that the nuclear plants in India were not safe.

Speaking to journalists on the sideline of a function in Pune on Friday evening, Kakodkar said that all the nuclear plants in India were completely safe and referred to the Kakrapur nuclear plant situated near Surat in Gujarat state, which did not shut down even after the 2002 earthquake in Bhuj district.

Kakodkar also gave another example of the nuclear power station at Kalpakkam which he said braved the flood waters of the tsunami in 2004. The nuclear scientist said that despite the pumps of the Kalpakkam nuclear plant getting flooded, the reactor continued to function.

Cautioning the people of India not to adopt knee-jerk reactions to the Japanese nuclear power plant accident, Kakodkar said, "We should neither panic nor react to the Japanese nuclear plant accident. The Fukushima accident will be researched threadbare and like at Chernobyl, we will derive lessons from it."

To a question as to whether Japan was actually struggling to fight the radiation threat at Fukushima, Kakodkar said "It's clear and a fact that Japan has a cooling problem on their hands. And they are trying various methods and ways to tackle the problem. And I hope that they would be able to tackle the problem soon," he added.