<p>The environment clearance accorded to the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) to set up a lab in Theni district has been challenged at the National Green Tribunal in New Delhi by an NGO that has been up in arms against the project.</p>.<p>Poovulagin Nanbargal has filed a petition before the NGT seeking to declare null and void the clearance given to setting up of the lab — the first of its kind in India that would study atmospheric neutrinos produced by cosmic rays in a 1,200m deep cave under a mountain — in the forests near Bodinayakkanur, 525 km from here.<br /><br />The INO project has been under a cloud since 2010 and the clearance accorded to it was challenged by the same NGO at the NGT Southern Bench in Chennai.</p>.<p>The bench cancelled the clearance in 2017 and asked the company to file a fresh application under Category "A" instead of Category "B".</p>.<p>But, the environment ministry has accorded the latest approval under Category "B" which activists term illegal". <br /><br />G Sundarrajan of Poovulagin Nanbargal said a project of such nature, that, too, coming up close to an ecologically sensitive area, has been approved without conducting Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).<br /><br />"Also, EAC has no jurisdiction to appraise Category B project, besides failing to consider any of the concerns raised by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) regarding the potential adverse impact of the project," he said.<br /><br />The NGT quashed the environmental clearance last year saying the project should be categorised under Category "A" and not "B" as it has been done by the government.</p>.<p>The NGT wanted the project to be classified as Category "A" since the location falls within 5 km of the Madhikettan Shola Natural Park in Kerala and from the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border.<br /><br />If a project is classified as "Category A", several processes should be followed before granting the clearance, the environmentalists said.</p>.<p>Since the project involves tunnelling and excavation of six lakh cubic metres of Charnockite rock from the mountain, environmentalists and villagers feel it would have a cascading effect on various natural resources.</p>
<p>The environment clearance accorded to the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) to set up a lab in Theni district has been challenged at the National Green Tribunal in New Delhi by an NGO that has been up in arms against the project.</p>.<p>Poovulagin Nanbargal has filed a petition before the NGT seeking to declare null and void the clearance given to setting up of the lab — the first of its kind in India that would study atmospheric neutrinos produced by cosmic rays in a 1,200m deep cave under a mountain — in the forests near Bodinayakkanur, 525 km from here.<br /><br />The INO project has been under a cloud since 2010 and the clearance accorded to it was challenged by the same NGO at the NGT Southern Bench in Chennai.</p>.<p>The bench cancelled the clearance in 2017 and asked the company to file a fresh application under Category "A" instead of Category "B".</p>.<p>But, the environment ministry has accorded the latest approval under Category "B" which activists term illegal". <br /><br />G Sundarrajan of Poovulagin Nanbargal said a project of such nature, that, too, coming up close to an ecologically sensitive area, has been approved without conducting Environment Impact Assessment (EIA).<br /><br />"Also, EAC has no jurisdiction to appraise Category B project, besides failing to consider any of the concerns raised by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) regarding the potential adverse impact of the project," he said.<br /><br />The NGT quashed the environmental clearance last year saying the project should be categorised under Category "A" and not "B" as it has been done by the government.</p>.<p>The NGT wanted the project to be classified as Category "A" since the location falls within 5 km of the Madhikettan Shola Natural Park in Kerala and from the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border.<br /><br />If a project is classified as "Category A", several processes should be followed before granting the clearance, the environmentalists said.</p>.<p>Since the project involves tunnelling and excavation of six lakh cubic metres of Charnockite rock from the mountain, environmentalists and villagers feel it would have a cascading effect on various natural resources.</p>