Will Tamil Nadu step in to retain INO?

Madurai: Scientists and academicians actively involved in preparatory work for setting up the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) at Pottipuram village in Bodi Hills in Theni district expressed regret that the project might move away from the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh.

Ever since the ministry of environment and forest gave approval for both environment and forest clearance for setting up the observatory at the proposed site on October 18, 2010, it has been running into serious trouble. “For the last two years, we have been waiting to get clearance from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, for setting up the project on the site,” said Satyanarayana Bheesette, Scientific Officer (H), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai,  to DC over the phone.

Satyanarayana Bheesette was part of a team which had inspected lands at Kothapalem village in the Eastern Ghats in Andhra Pradesh recently.

The khondalite rocks found in the Eastern Ghats were as harder and dense as Charnockite rocks of Bodi Hills, said the scientific officer admitting that the place was suitable for establishing an underground laboratory with a rock cover of around 1,200 m for non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research.

The Indian government has sanctioned '1,600 crore for the project, but so far we couldn’t even begin the construction activities in the proposed site. “For instance, we have purchased 37 acres of land at Nagamalai Pudukottai near Madurai for setting up an Inter-institutional Centre for High Energy Physics from the Tamil Nadu Government, but the authorities have been delaying for the past few years to give approval for the construction of the centre,”

Meanwhile, Satyanarayana and his team had brought positive change in the mindsets of local communities and students through outreach programme they had conducted for the last 7 years in the southern districts.  However, they faced a major blow after the Madurai high court bench restrained the Central government from commencing the work on the site till it gets clearance from the TNPCB in March 2015. It was followed by the National Green Tribunal southern bench order on March 20, 2017, directing the INO to file a fresh application for environmental clearance.  

“We have filed a fresh application for environment clearance on June 1 following the new guidelines,” said Satyanarayana.

The scientists are not keen on shifting the project from TN after having spent years together doing ground work there. But the state government is not taking any positive steps to clear the files pending with TNPCB and other departments, he added.