CHENNAI: With Tamil Nadu shutting the door for construction of the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Bodi West Hills of the Western Ghats in Theni district, the Union government recently sought an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court.
Aishwarya Bhati, senior advocate and additional solicitor general, reportedly mentioned before a two-judge bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose that there were certain developments pertaining to the neutrino project to be brought to the Supreme Court’s notice. Environmental activist G Sundarrajan had moved the court, challenging the National Green Tribunal’s order to uphold the environmental clearance given to the project.
The court had called for a hearing on January 27, but the petitioner’s side sought time, saying its advocate was down with Covid-19. The court postponed the hearing by two weeks. Never has the Union government shown such desperation and called for an urgent hearing, leading to speculation whether it decided to move the project out of Tamil Nadu or is pressurising the State government, through the court, to clear the hurdles.
A scientist associated with the neutrino project said there is always an option of finding alternative sites. “We are awaiting instructions from the Centre and hope the State government would allow construction of the observatory in Theni. There has been great progress on the research and development front.”
However, a senior bureaucrat from the State government categorically said there was no question of allowing the project in Theni. A delegation from Tamil Nadu led by MP TR Baalu met Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi last year seeking to drop the project, which is proposed in the fragile tiger corridor.
Chief Minister MK Stalin also wrote to the prime minister saying the project can’t be permitted at the proposed site.
Proposed site in tiger corridor
The neutrino project site falls in the Mathikettan-Periyar tiger corridor, which is among 32 such corridors recognised by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), according to the State forest department
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