Chennai: MDMK leader Vaiko today demanded that the proposed underground Neutrino project in Tamil Nadu's Theni district be scrapped, claiming it would affect the environment in that area.
“Agricultural lands would be acquired to lay roads into the project venue and to dump waste material. The area would be deeply affected as they had to dig two huge tunnels by breaking the hill. It would not only affect the environment but also mountain farming in that area,” Vaiko said in a statement.
He also referred to protests by farmers in that area against the project ever since the conception of the idea by the previous governments.
“In fact, the neutrino project is not an industry which would generate employment to the people in that area but an institution to carry out research only,” he added.
Vaiko said a similar project in Italy was scrapped during 2002-13 following protests by the locals and farmers.
According to an official statement on the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) website, the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the establishment of the India-based Neutrino Observatory at an estimated cost of Rs 1,500 crore.
The project was jointly supported by the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology, while the infrastructural support was provided by the Tamil Nadu Government.
The project was aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory primarily to study neutrinos, it said, adding the underground laboratory would be set up near Pottipuram village of Theni district.
