Indian Neutrino Observatory: The two-decade-long quest reaches the SC

Indian scientists’ two-decade-long struggle to build an underground laboratory for cutting-edge physics experiments has reached the Supreme Court. The apex court will assess the objections raised by the Tamil Nadu government and environmentalists vis-a-vis the central government support and regulatory approvals to decide whether an Indian Neutrino Observatory (INO) will ever become a reality.

Though the idea to have an advanced laboratory with a deep cavern (acting as a natural shield) for experiments on the neutrino – the spookiest subatomic particle – was mooted two decades ago, a formal proposal for it came from the Department of Atomic Energy in 2006, commencing the run.

The Rs 1,500 crore project to set up the observatory under a hill near Pottipuram village of Theni district in Tamil Nadu received approval from the Narendra Modi government in December 2014. But it was caught in a political and misinformation campaign, followed by layers of legal tangles that have kept it grounded.

Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research – the lead institution behind INO – won the last round of the legal battle when National Green Tribunal in November 2018 upheld the environmental clearances given to the project but asked the TIFR and DAE to take approval from the National Board of Wildlife before moving ahead.

In an affidavit before the top court, TIFR contended that the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden, Tamil Nadu, had in January 2021 conveyed that since the project site is away from the Eco-Sensitive Zone boundary, it didn’t require wildlife clearance from the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).

Two months later, the National Tiger Conservation Authority said since a 0.88 km portion of the tunnel – where the neutrino detector systems will be installed -- will be underground, it has no objection even though the tunnel will be inside a tiger corridor.

But curiously, soon after the PCCF’s nod, the Tamil Nadu government, in a new twist, claimed that the project site is part of a tiger corridor, for which the project proponents would have to seek wildlife clearance.

In a new affidavit before the Supreme Court, Tamil Nadu claimed that the TIFR submitted an online proposal on May 21, 2021, for wildlife clearance because the project fell within the Mathikettan-Periyar Tiger Corridors. The District Forest Officer, Theni, has not recommended the proposal since it falls in the Mathikettan-Periyar Tiger Corridor mapped by the NTCA.

The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and Chief Wildlife Warden has also not recommended the project since the area in question forms part of the Bodi Hills West Reserve Forest, which lies in the southern Western Ghats.

The Western Ghats is considered a global biodiversity hotspot harbouring numerous endemic species of flora and fauna. The INO project falls on the hill slopes of a part of the Western Ghats which aligns within it a significant tiger corridor, namely the Mathikettan-Periyar Tiger Corridor.

The area also has ecological links to the eastern habitats where Srivilliputhur Meghamalai Tiger Reserve is located, assisting in genetic dispersal across the Western Ghats and their south-eastern projections through the Cumbam Valley. Along with the tiger, its co-predators, several other species of mammals including the ungulates, reptiles and amphibians move around the slopes of the hills.

The TIFR team has now sought a wildlife clearance and its application is pending before the State Board of Wildlife. The Tamil Nadu PCCF also sent his recommendation to the SBWL, which is the final authority in the state to accord the approval.

The NBWL will take a call on the basis of the SBWL recommendation. As per the NGT ruling, the NBWL clearance is an absolute must for the INO project to go ahead.

Things have taken a political turn in recent months as Tamil Nadu not only submitted an affidavit before the Supreme Court against the project, arguing “it will lead to irreversible damage to the precious wildlife and rich biodiversity of the region” but also sent some of its top leaders to Delhi to campaign against the observatory.

In June last year, Chief Minister M K Stalin submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi listing a set of demands for the southern state. One such demand was that the INO project be dropped.

"Government of India's proposal to set up the India Neutrino Observatory at Theni district falls in the Mathikettan-Periyar Tiger Corridor as mapped by the NTCA. The corridor has a critical and important function of maintaining the genetic flow that will be completely destroyed due to the diversion and the allied effects of the tunnel formation as proposed by the project,” says the memorandum.

“The project activities will lead to irreversible damage to the precious wildlife and rich biodiversity of the region. In view of the serious repercussions of the project activities, the Government of Tamil Nadu is not in favour of the proposed INO project and requests the Government of India to drop the project,” it adds.

A few months later, senior DMK leader and former Union Environment Minister T R Baalu led a team of ministers and officials to Delhi where he met the Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and briefed him on the state’s reservations over the INO. Goyal had earlier reviewed the underground laboratory programme as a part of the infrastructure projects listed in the Project Monitoring Group portal. Another senior Tamil Nadu leader, Vaiko, remains a long-standing opponent of the project.

With the DMK firmly establishing itself as a key member of an anti-BJP alliance for the 2024 parliamentary polls, the government and TIFR lawyers will have a minefield to negotiate to rescue the INO project. But even if a victory comes in the Supreme Court, it will not be easy for the DAE and TIFR to realise what’s one of the most ambitious scientific projects in independent India.