The
southern bench of the National Green Tribunal at Chennai on Friday issued notices
to the central and state governments on a petition challenging the
environmental clearance granted to the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)
project in Tamil Nadu.
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| Representational Picture of Neutrinos |
The
Rs. 1,500 crore project is aimed at building a world class underground
laboratory (at a depth of 4,300 feet) at Bodi Hills in Theni district to study
neutrinos, tiny electrically neutral and nearly massless particles which cannot
be broken further.
The
project, jointly supported by the department of atomic energy and the
department of science and technology, was given final approval by the Centre in
January this year. The project is facing opposition from environmentalists as
the site chosen is located in the ecologically sensitive Western Ghats.
G
Sundarajan of Theni, who filed the petition, said the Union government granted
the clearance to the project in June 2011 without following the Environmental
Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines. There was no detailed study to find out the
impact of blasting more than 6 lakh tonnes of rock on the aquifers, rivers and
reservoirs in the region, he said. The project would affect groundwater and
surface water bodies which fed three river systems: Periyar, Vaigai and Vaippar
in Idukki district of Kerala and 12 dams in Tamil Nadu, all located within a
radius of 50km from the proposed site.
He
said the expert appraisal committee provided the clearance without satisfying
itself about the impact of the project. Categorisation of the project as a
'basic science project' was wrong as no statute contained such classification,
he said.
A
Bench of the NGT comprising of judicial member Justice M Chockalingam and
expert member R Nagendran issued notices to the Union Ministry of Environment
and Forests, Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary, State-Level Environmental Impact
Assessment Authority, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board and Institute of
Mathematical Science, asking them to file their replies.
The
bench then posted the matter to April 7 for further hearing.
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