Move to convince officials, people’s representatives, NGOs

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The New Indian Express, Wednesday, 27 January 2010.

The District Forest Officer who was present in the meeting expressed no objection for the project,
The awareness meeting on the proposed India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project held at Theni Collectorate on Monday was very successful as the district officials and people’s representatives were convinced that the project was not hazardous and it would actually provide a global attention to Theni district, said Naba K Mondal, Spokesperson, INO, and Senior Professor with Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

Addressing a press conference at American College here on Tuesday, Mondal said that the meeting explained to the district officials, MLAs, ex-MLAs, members of NGOs and representatives of farmers about the features of the INO project and provided them facts and figures on how no damage would be done to neither the wildlife nor the farming activities.

The proposed site falls on revenue waste lands and only the mountain where the neutrino detector will be placed deep into the tunnel falls in the forest land for which clearance has been sought from the Forest Department. The site has naturally grown trees, hence not even a single tree will be cut during the construction. There are no water bodies nearby and even the 420 kilo litres of water which will be required for the laboratory will be provided by the TWAD Board through pipelines, he said. Even the approach road to the laboratory will not go through the nearby villages.

The District Forest Officer who was present in the meeting expressed no objection for the project, Mondal pointed out.

A Science park will be established at the entrance of the tunnel along with other infrastructure which will host number of activities like science lectures and workshops when the renowned Indian and foreign scientists visit the site and Theni district will be privileged to be exposed to the science arena of various scholars and researchers flogging the INO site, he opined. The park will host various tools of science experiments where students can get to know the recent trends in science and can do small experiments with the equipments, he said. The 900 crore project was waiting for Cabinet clearance before which the statutory clearances from both the forest and environment departments.

The forest clearance had been sought from the local district forest official and the environment clearance was sought from the ministry which will be cleared soon.

After the Cabinet clearance, it will take 5 years time to complete the INO laboratory. The equipments alone will cost Rs.700 crocre while another Rs.200 crore will be spent on construction of laboratory and other infrastructure, he said.

The INO project which is a huge basic science project in nature will acts as a great inspiration to students from the locality. It will motivate the students to pursue science streams and Theni district will turn out to be a significant place in the journals of science, Mondal explained. The project will pay a major role in attracting the rural students towards research and technology, he added.

Dr. T. Chinnaraj Joseph Jaikumar, Principal and Secretary of American College, P.R. Anbudurai, Vice-Principal and N. Manickam, Head of the Physics Department, were present during the press briefing.

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