One of the major hurdles in setting up the Neutrino observatory in Theni district was cleared recently when the union government notified eco-sensitive zone around the Mathikettan Shola National park. As per the notification dated December 28, only a one kilometre distance from the park boundary in Kerala will be an eco-sensitive zone, while in Tamil Nadu, the eco-sensitive zone is marked as ‘zero kilometre’. It signifies that there is no eco-sensitive zone in the Tamil Nadu side of the national park, and hence any development project can happen around the park boundary, including the neutrino observatory which is set to come up at a distance of five kilometres from the park boundary.
The Mathikettan Shola national park stretches on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, with its eastern boundary lying on the Tamil Nadu side. The site proposed for the INO is around 5 kilometres away from this border, in Pottipuram village in Theni district, Tamil Nadu.
The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is a particle physics science observatory to be set up exclusively to study neutrinos emitted by cosmic rays, from inside specially constructed caves under mountains in Theni district, around 110 kilometres from Madurai. These caves have been designed to be built at a depth of 1,200 metres below the surface of the earth and the complex will consist of multiple such caves.The main cave will be 130 metres long, 26 metres wide and 30 metres high. It will house a 50-kilotonne magnetised iron calorimeter detector to study the neutrino, as per a report. A 2-kilometre approach tunnel will also be built around the complex.
The project was mooted in 2005 in The Nilgiris district. It was opposed by environmental activists and residents of the region due to its proximity to the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and the presence of the elephant corridor in the region. A new site was therefore identified in Pottipuram village in Theni district in 2009 and a sum of Rs 1,500 crore was allocated for the project in 2015.
However, stiff resistance arose then too against the project due to the need for deep excavation and drilling in the region, which is less than 5 kilometres away from the periphery of the Mathikettan Shola National Park, another protected area.
One of the major reasons for the project being opposed by the environmental activists in the state is because the proposed site is located at a biodiversity hotspot in south India. The region including the mountain ranges of Western ghats has been awarded the UNESCO World Heritage Site honour due to its rich flora and fauna. According to activists, the development of INO in this spot will endanger the flora and fauna in this region and cause irreversible damage to the entire ecosystem of the region. This has however been refuted by many scientists.
The project had initially obtained Environmental Clearance in 2011 which was put in abeyance in 2017 by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which ordered the government to obtain clearance from National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) too. In March 2018, the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the MoEFCC recommended that an Environmental Clearance be awarded to the project on certain conditions. The project has been mired in litigation ever since as the Madras High Court ordered that a clearance be obtained from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) before commencement and the NGT reiterated that a clearance be obtained from the wildlife board of India as mandated for obtaining the environmental clearance.
Following this, the government of Tamil Nadu has submitted a request with the state board for wildlife for clearance for the project.
As per the existing general guidelines for eco-sensitive zones around ‘protected areas’, an area of upto 10 kilometres from the boundaries of such protected areas. The term ‘Protected areas’ includes and is not limited to wildlife sanctuaries, bird sanctuaries, national parks, wetlands etc. However, the respective state governments are also empowered to notify a particular extent of area around the boundary as eco-sensitive zone which is less or more than the 10 kilometres limit specified as per norms, based on the sensitivity of the region.
The area around the Mathikettan Shola national park was not notified till recently, thus making it mandatory for many development projects coming up within 10 kilometres from the park boundaries to have a mandatory NBWL clearance.
The government of Kerala, however, sent a proposal to notify a length of one kilometre from the park boundary on Kerala’s side as ‘eco-sensitive’ zone. It specified zero kilometres on the Tamil Nadu-side of the park boundary in its recommendation since it claimed that the authority to specify eco-sensitive zones in Tamil Nadu’s side lies with the government of Tamil Nadu.
As per the existing norms in relation to eco-sensitive zone notifications, if the boundary of any protected area overlaps with the boundary of any other state or union territory, then it shall be the duty of all concerned state governments/union territories to have mutual consultations and decide on the width of the eco-sensitive region around the protected area.
The recommendation was approved and notified as is by the union government, thus providing a one kilometre eco-sensitive zone on Kerala side and zero on Tamil Nadu’s side.
The requirement of clearance from NBWL for INO was mandatory only if the proposed site fell under eco-sensitive zones. Now since the site does not fall under eco-sensitive zone in Tamil Nadu, the need for a clearance from NBWL is eliminated.
Now that the hurdle in relation to obtaining clearance certificate from NBWL is eliminated, the INO just needs to obtain clearance from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) and the Theni district authorities to start work on the project.