By Newsgram Staff Writer

India is set to get a Neutrino Observatory as government has approved the funds worth Rs 1583.05 crore, Dr Jitendra Singh said in a a reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

"The Government of India has approved the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project, to be located in the Theni district of Tamil Nadu and financial sanction has been issued on 06.01.2015," Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh said.

The project at an estimated cost of Rs.1583.05 crore includes construction of an underground lab and associated surface facilities at Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni District, in Tamil Nadu, construction of a 50 kilo ton magnetised iron calorimeter detector to study a fundamental particle called neutrino, and setting up Inter-Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics at Madurai.

"The environmental impact of the project has been taken into account before sanction of the project. Detailed studies on the environmental impact of the project were carried out by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Coimbatore an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Environment & Forests, and geotechnical studies were carried out by the Geological Survey of India (GSI)," Singh said.

The Project is located in Tamilnadu and the application for environmental clearance was submitted to the Department of Environment & Forests, Government of Tamil- Nadu. The Government of Tamil Nadu recommended and forwarded the application to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India for concurrence, he added.