Karnataka - Mysore   

Scientists scout for land to set up INO centre

— PHOTO: M A SRIRAM

Pros and cons: Senior scientists from research institutions in the country holding a meeting with T.C. Shivashankar Murthy, acting Vice-Chancellor of Mysore University, in Mysore on Monday.

MYSORE: A team of senior scientists from leading science institutions in the country arrived in Mysore on Monday and scouted for suitable land to house the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Centre.

The INO Centre in Mysore is expected to act as the hub for research activities to be carried out at the underground laboratory coming up in the caves of Masinagudi forests in Tamil Nadu.

After holding separate meetings with Mysore University’s acting Vice-Chancellor T.C. Shivashankar Murthy and Deputy Commissioner P. Manivannan, the scientists visited the Manasagangothri campus and three other locations on the outskirts of the city to choose land for the INO centre.

Speaking to The Hindu, Nabha Mondal, a senior scientist from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) that is co-ordinating the INO project, said about 30 acres of land was required for setting up the centre.

With Mysore University expressing its inability to spare so much of land on its Manasagangothri campus, the scientists were of the opinion that the three-and-a-half acres of land available near the Physics Department on the campus can be used to construct the training centre while the laboratory and other facilities can come up on a separate piece of land on the outskirts of the City.

“We have inspected land at three places on the outskirts of the city. One is located near Chamundi Hills and the other two are along the highways leading to Hunsur and Nanjangud. We will verify the pros and cons of housing the INO centre at each place before taking a final decision”, Dr. Mondal said.

Dr. Mondal was accompanied by Vivek Datar of Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, and K. Nagarajamurthy and Rajashekar from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai. Apart from the training centre, which is proposed to come up on the Manasagangothri campus, the INO centre will comprise a laboratory building for testing detectors.

“The large detectors will be built and assembled here before being transported to the underground laboratory in the forests”, he said.

Dr. Mondal described the INO project as a major scientific project to unravel the mysteries of nature with the help of neutrinos that are particles emitted by the sun, the stars, astrophysics objects and cosmic rays. “It is research activity aimed at studying the fundamental law of nature”, he said.

The INO project, which is piloted jointly by Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology is the third such project in the world.

“It is a Rs. 900-crore project. Experiments in the underground laboratory in the caves of Masinagudi are scheduled to begin in five years. We are planning to begin the construction of INO centre in Mysore in about six months, subject to Government’s approval”, he said. As soon as the INO project is commissioned, about 50 physicists and 35 engineers from 22 scientific institutions, which are part of the project, will be engaged in carrying out research activities.

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