Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko visited the Madras High Court Bench here on Wednesday and filed a public interest litigation petition seeking a direction to the Centre to refrain from establishing the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Bodi West Hills at Pottipuram village in Theni district.
Making it explicit that he wanted to argue the case in person without engaging a lawyer, Mr. Vaiko, in his affidavit, claimed that the INO, proposed to be established in a cavern under a 1,300 metre tall peak, would “bring unimaginable and terrible disaster to mankind and the environment in and around Theni district in Tamil Nadu and Idukki district of Kerala.”
The environment clearance for the INO was given way back in June 2011 and surface facilities were under construction on 26 hectares of grazing land. Thousands of tonnes of explosives would have to be used to blast the hills and create a 700-metre tunnel for setting up a 50,000 tonne magnetised Iron Calorimeter Detector to study the properties of neutrinos, he said.
“There are major safety concerns in the INO… The INO’s namesake geotechnical study did not look at the aquifers in the impact area… Blasting in the shear zone can damage the underground aquifers and impact the flow of water. Tunnelling can rupture the aquifers and introduce new channels for water to flow. This flowing water will be laden with toxic chemicals used in the process of tunnelling,” he claimed.
Mr. Vaiko pointed out that the proposed site was surrounded by 12 dams within a radius of 50 km. “The INO scientists initially sought a site with low seismicity but finally ended up in a shear zone with abundantly rich water resources, high population density and extensive agriculture,” he said.
The case is expected to be listed before Justices S. Tamilvanan and V.S. Ravi on Thursday.
To argue the case in person without engaging a lawyer
