'Would Cause Irreversible Damage': TN CM Stalin Writes To PM Modi To Shelve Neutrino Project In Western Ghats

The CM also recalled that a delegation of TN representatives met Union Minister for Industries and Commerce Piyush Goyal on September 27, 2021 for the same reason. 

TN CM Stalin | Credit: Twitter/@mkstalin

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, urging him to intervene and drop the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project in Tamil Nadu. The CM said the project would cause irreversible damage to the fragile and sensitive ecosystem of the area. 

In his letter, the CM said: "The proposed project is located 4.6 km from Mathikettan Shola National Park and falls within the Bodi Hills West Reserve Forest in Southern Western Ghats. The Western Ghats is considered as a global biodiversity hotspot harbouring numerous endemic species of flora and fauna."

According to reports, the INO is a proposed mega project for particle physics research, which aims to study neutrinos in a 1,200-metre deep cave.

Stalin said: "This area also links ecologically to the eastern habitats where Srivilliputhur Meghamalai Tiger Reserve is located and hosts tigers from the region and assists in genetic dispersal across the Western Ghats and South-Eastern projection through Cumban Valley. Along with tigers, its co-predators, several other species of mammals move around those hills." 

Further, the CM explained that the region is the watershed and water catchment for Sambal and Kottakudi rivers, which in turn support livelihood and provide water for drinking and agricultural needs of five districts in Tamil Nadu. 

The CM's letter also mentioned that a delegation of Tamil Nadi representatives met Union Minister for Industries and Commerce Piyush Goyal on September 27, 2021 with a similar request. 

Listing the problems, Stalin requested PM Modi to intervene and advise the authorities concerned to drop the Neutrino Observatory project in Tamil Nadu.

The project was conceptualised long ago and was to be completed in 2015, but the Union environment ministry raised objections in 2009 to then choice of the site, according to a report in The Hindu. The project was approved in 2015 after the site was shifted to Bodi West Hills, reports said.

The Tamil Nadu government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court last month, disallowing the construction of the proposed observatory at the Theni site.