INO project may move from TN to Andhra Pradesh

The much delayed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), the country's most ambitious basic science project, may shift to Andhra Pradesh from Tamil Nadu as the state is showing no interest along with the strong opposition from environmental groups.

Andra Pradesh government, on the other hand, seems to be keen on the prestigious project coming in their state and shortlisted two sites in Visakhapatnam and Chittoor-Nellore region in the Eastern Ghats.

The work on the project came to a grinding halt after the Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal on March 20 this year suspended the environment clearance for the project proposed at Pottipuram village of Bodi West Hills in Theni district.

Prof D Indumathi, a physicist at Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) and one of the spokespersons for the project told DNA that they had started looking out for alternate sites but no final decision was taken on moving out of Tamil Nadu.

"We have been looking for an alternative site. To find an alternate site to build an underground lab is not so easy. We are neither going away nor found an alternative site," she said, adding that various factors involved in finalising a site including right rock quality, minimal environmental impact, water and power.

However, INO scientists are unhappy over the Tamil Nadu government's non-cooperation. "Nothing is moving in Tamil Nadu government. We are still waiting for the clearance from the TNPCB which we applied in May 2015," she said.

After getting final approval from the central government in 2015, the Rs 1,500 crore project was first stalled due to the pending Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board approval and then the NGT order suspending the environmental clearance pushed them backwards by a couple of years. "We have started works to comply with the NGT orders as well," she noted.

Prof Indumathi said finding a quality rocky mountain to build an underground laboratory cavern beneath 1000 metre to house a 50 kilotonne magnetic Iron Calorimeter to study the fundamental particle called neutrino was th emost difficult task. The Charnockite type of rocks found in Bodhi Hills in Theni district are the hardest rock and found specifically in Southern Peninsular.

Sources said that considering the timeline and competitiveness of the project, changing the site might be the only feasible option available to them. "Getting delayed doesn't solve the purpose of science. Other countries like China are moving ahead even though they started much later than us. But, we are hoping to get the clearance for the project," the scientist said.

When the INO was conceptualised, it was expected to be running by 2012. But the project hit the first road block in 2009 when the Ministry of Environment rejected the proposal for setting up INO at Singara in the Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu citing ecological sensitive location and its proximity to tiger habitats and elephant corridors. The scientists later found an alternative site in the Bodi West Hills in Theni for which Union cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its nod in January 2015.