Neutrino project back on track after getting exemption from wildlife board clearance

The INO project now has valid environment and forest clearance. What is needed is a building permit and Consent to Establish (CTE) from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).
The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory. (Photo | www.ino.tifr.res.in)
The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory. (Photo | www.ino.tifr.res.in)

CHENNAI: The country's most ambitious basic science project "India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)", which has suffered several delays over the years, seems to be back on track as the project no longer requires clearance from the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

The Union Environment Ministry has notified the eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) for Mathikettan Shola National Park, according to which the neutrino project site is falling outside the ESZ. This exempts the INO from getting clearance from NBWL, which was in fact the biggest roadblock.

Gobinda Majumder, INO Project Director, confirmed to The New Indian Express that "zero" ESZ area is notified on the north-east and eastward side of Mathikettan Shola National Park, which shares an inter-state boundary with Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

"The notified ESZ area did not extend beyond Kerala boundary. The neutrino project site is on Tamil Nadu side, which means we are clearly outside ESZ. We won't be needing NBWL clearance any longer, however a clarification will be sought from the Union Environment Ministry before proceeding further," he said.

Currently, the INO project file is gathering dust with the Tamil Nadu State Board for Wildlife (SBWL), which had to recommend the project for NBWL clearance. Since the ESZ area was not notified for Mathikettan Shola National Park earlier when the INO project was initially proposed, it attracted the default 10 km zone creating hurdles for the project as the site is 4.9 km from the national park's boundary.

"Now there is no notified ESZ area on the Tamil Nadu side. The INO proposal with the State Board for Wildlife has become redundant," said Syed Muzammil Abbas, Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu.

In its order, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on November 2, 2018 said the INO project will not be implemented until and unless the approval of NBWL is received since the project site was within the default 0 km ESZ of the national park in Kerala. Mathikettan Shola National Park is situated in the high ranges of southern Western Ghats. It is an abode of several endemic flora and fauna and the habitat is the last remnant of the original forests of the Cardamom Hill Reserve

What next?

The INO project now has valid environment and forest clearance. What is needed is a building permit and Consent to Establish (CTE) from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB).

Gobinda Majumder, INO Project Director, said the process of getting a building permit has already been initiated. "We will be shortly approaching TNPCB for consent to establish," he said.

Physicists from across the world are batting for early completion of the INO project. Subir Sarkar, professor of physics at the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, University of Oxford and an Adjunct Professor at the Raman Research Institute in Bengaluru, said the INO project should commence immediately without any further delay. "India would lose the edge over competitors. There will be no second prize for discovery in science."

Sandip Trivedi, noted theoretical physicist and former director of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), also said India has a narrow window of one year for getting this project up and running. "After a year other competitors will be ahead of us."

China has begun construction of the Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) near the city of Jiangmen in Guangdong province. The construction is likely to be completed by 2022. Similarly, other neutrino experiments, such as Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) in Japan and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) in the USA are also under construction.

Although the INO project had similar timelines, it got stuck due to difficulties in getting approvals both at central and state level. India can proudly say that the first detection of cosmic-ray produced neutrinos was in the Kolar Gold Field (KGF)
experiment in 1965.

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