Finally, the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), a multi-institutional effort to build a world class underground laboratory, at a cost of Rs. 1,260 crore, to study neutrinos in the atmosphere, will find its home near Pottipuram village in West Bodi Hills of Theni district, 110 km west of Madurai.
After years of negotiations with the State government, the Forest department and activists and the rejection of two sites, first at Singara in the Nilgiris and then near Suruli falls in Theni district, the INO's full-fledged underground science laboratory will be created in West Bodi Hills, as the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has recommended an environmental clearance for the site.
As the project site was within the forest area, the MoEF appraisal committee, early this year, asked the project proponents to take necessary precautions during the construction phase and obtain necessary permission and ‘no objection' certificate from the Forest department.
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It sought details of excavated earth for the construction of a two-km-long tunnel for building and housing a large magnetised iron calorimeter detector to study naturally produced neutrinos in the Earth's atmosphere.
It also sought details of the quantity and method of disposal, one of the prime reasons why the INO could not obtain permission at a site in Singara adjoining the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
The scientists were also asked to submit plans for emergency evacuation, disaster management and water and energy conservation by the committee in its January meeting.
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Examining the details submitted, the MoEF's expert appraisal committee, in its last meeting, recommended the INO proposal for environmental clearance, said forest officials.
“Forest clearance (stage one) was obtained in October 2010,” says Prof. M.V.N. Murthy of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences. “Once we receive a letter from the MoEF on environmental clearance, we would have obtained all statutory clearances,” he said.
About 4.62 hectares of forest land has been diverted for the purpose of setting up the INO underground laboratory.