CHENNAI: In a significant development, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on Monday submitted before the Supreme Court that the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has given ‘no-objection’ for building the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project inside the tiger corridor in Theni district of Tamil Nadu.
The Supreme Court will hear the matter next on February 22. The neutrino project is proposed at Pottipuram village in the Bodi West Hill in the Theni district bordering Kerala and will be the largest basic science project in India. The underground laboratory will house a 50-kiloton magnetised iron calorimeter detector to detect atmospheric neutrinos. TIFR is one of the partners in the project.
However, a critical portion of the project site falls inside the ecologically-sensitive Mathikettan-Periyar tiger corridor, which is among the 32 such tiger corridors recognised by NTCA. In an email response to the Union Environment Minister in March last year, Rajendra G Garawad, Deputy Inspector General of Forests at NTCA, said: “Approximately 0.88 km of underground tunnel of the proposed project is inside the tiger corridor. Further, this authority has no objection to the proposal project as the tunnel is underground.”
This email communication was submitted before the Supreme Court by TIFR counsel along with final notification for Mathikettan Shola National Park in Idukki district of Kerala, where a ‘zero’ eco-sensitive zone was declared towards Tamil Nadu side, meaning there was no need for TIFR to obtain wildlife clearance from the Standing Committee of National Board for Wildlife (NBWL).
When contacted, a senior official from TN Forest Department said, “TIFR will still need clearance from NBWL. As per Section 38-O(1)(g) of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, areas linking one tiger reserve or protected area with another tiger reserve or protected area are not diverted for ecologically-unsustainable uses, except in public interest and with approval of the NBWL and on advice of NTCA.”
The official said these corridors hold the key to tigers’ genetic flow and dispersion, which results in an increase in population. “They (corridors) assist movement of the spillover population of tigers from one reserve to another. The Mathikettan-Periyar tiger corridor in particular is a very narrow strip of land not more than 1-km wide. It is extremely vital as it is the only link between Periyar tiger reserve, Mathikettan Shola National Park, Anaamalai tiger reserve, Eravikulam national Park and the Srivilliputhur Meghamalai tiger reserve for the movement of tigers,” the forest official told TNIE.
Neutrino project director Gobinda Majumder said the project comprises 26.825 hectares of revenue land above ground and 4.62 hectares of land underground comprising the tunnels and lab caverns. “The surface facilities are purely restricted to the revenue land and lie completely outside the reserve forest, hence there will be no disturbance to the reserve forest or tiger corridor. Of the 4.62 hectares of underground construction, the tunnel entrance begins in revenue land and the horizontal tunnel (just like a railway tunnel) is several metres deep before it enters the forest land,” he said.
The State government had categorically said no to the project.