NEUTRINO PROJECT

02.02.2010

TIMES OF INDIA


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INO: College tries to educate villagers about neutrino lab


Madurai: The debate over the proposed Neutrino observatory in Theni district is gaining momentum with many villagers vehemently opposing it, while a group of academicians from American College, Madurai, is trying to convince them on the positive aspects of this prestigious project.

  

The local people, panchayat presidents and some farmers’ associations have been raising their voice against the proposed Rs 960 crore ‘neutrino laboratory’ to be set up in the Cumbum valley, near Pottipuram village in the Western Ghats in Theni district.

  

The rock hillock is known as Palluizhuchanparai. Sethupathy, a farmer wants to know why they should accommodate the project, when it was shifted out of the Nilgiris following protests.

  

American College, Madurai has signed an MoU with the INO as a project collaborator for Madurai and Theni districts, to create awareness about the project and do a base level survey for it.

  

Talking to  reporters T Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, American College principal and covenor of the INO Madurai-Theni cell said they had already reached out to the villages of Pottipuram, Chinnapottipuram, Pudukottai, Thinmayanayakkanpatti, Kupparaseripatti and T Renganathapuram.

 

 “The people here understand when we talk to them about radiation and environmental pollution, but they want to know how the project would handle the large amount of debris that would be created when granite is excavated from the hill for the observatory’s construction,” he said.

  

The academics will seek to allay fears in terms of displacement and the idea that it would deplete groundwater and disturb wildlife.

 

 “Millions of tonnes of boulders are going to be broken up and excavated for this project, where a 2-km tunnel will be drilled into the rock hillock and a chamber with a 100-foot high roof would be created in its centre to locate the observatory.

  

Village representatives, however, are yet to be convinced and have decided to stage an agitation in front of the Theni district collectorate on Wednesday against the project.

 

 When the INO cell members went there on Tuesday, villagers demanded an immediate direct interaction with senior scientists. Jaikumar said such a meeting would be organized within two weeks.


- Agencies