MDMK leader Vaiko, presently lodged in Puzhal Central Prison here, has written to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urging him to ensure that permission is not granted by the Kerala Wildlife Authority to the Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) project in Theni district, barely two kilometres away from the neighbouring State.
In his letter, a copy of which was released to the media here on Tuesday, Mr. Vaiko, who had met Mr Vijayan last month in connection with the project, said the INO project would pose a grave threat to both the Idukki dam and the Mullaiperiyar dam.
The Madras High Court (Madurai Bench) had stayed the execution of the INO project on a petition filed by Mr. Vaiko, and recently, the National Green Tribunal’s Southern Bench had also kept at abeyance the environmental clearance given to the INO.
“Now, the Union Government, the INO authority, has approached the Kerala Government to get wildlife clearance from the wildlife authority of the Kerala Government. If this INO is established, it will cause irreparable damage to the dams and water resources in the Western Ghats, which is declared as a World Heritage Site by the UNO,” he said, urging Mr. Vijayan not to grant permission for it.
