Reiterating the state’s opposition to setting up of India-based Neutrino Observatory in the picturesque Theni district, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday nudged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “drop” the ambitious project contending that its implementation would cause “irreversible damage” to the “fragile and sensitive eco-system.”
In a letter to Modi, Stalin reminded him of a memorandum he submitted on June 17, 2021, in this regard and said the site that has been proposed for the project falls within the Mathikettan-Periyar Tiger Corridor as mapped by the National Tiger Conservation Authority. The Chief Minister also said a delegation from the state met Union Minister Piyush Goyal in September last year demanding that the Union Government drop the project.
The neutrino project is proposed to be set up at Pottipuram village in the Theni district – the ambitious project has been at the centre of controversy for the past few years due to stiff opposition from environmental activists and villagers.
Stalin said the state opposes the project in the larger interest of conservation of the rich wildlife and biodiversity of the region, as the project would cause “irreversible damage to the fragile and sensitive ecosystem.”
“The (Tiger Corridor has the critical function of maintaining the genetic flow, which will be destroyed due to project activities,” Stalin told the Prime Minister, adding that the tunnelling work involves carrying out blasting in the hard and composite rock mass and requires a huge quantity of high strength explosives to break it.
Quoting a report of the State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Tamil Nadu, Stalin said the tunnel and cavern will be at a depth of 1,000 m from the top of the mountain and vertical stress is expected to be greater than 270 kg per square metre since at the depth of 1,000 metres, mountain rock would be under tremendous pressure.
“This will create problems like rock bust and roof collapse. The proposals will have to be scrutinized using Geotechnical studies for safeguards,” the CM said and pointed out that the proposed project site is located about 4.9 km from Mathikettan Shola National Park and within the Bodi Hills West Reserve Forest, which lies in the Southern Western Ghats.
“The Western Ghats is considered as a global biodiversity hotspot harbouring numerous endemic species of flora and fauna. This area also links ecologically to the eastern habitats where Srivilliputhur Meghamalal Tiger Reserve is located and hosts tigers from the region and assists in genetic dispersal across the Western Ghats and their South Eastern projections through the Cumbam Valley,” the CM added.
Along with tigers, its co predators, several other species of mammals including the ungulates, reptiles and amphibians move around the slopes of these hills, Stalin told Modi
“I once again request you to kindly intervene in this matter and advise the authorities concerned to drop the Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project in Tamil Nadu,” he said.
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