The Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has given clearance to its clearance to the department of atomic energy for setting up of the Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Bodi West Hills reserved forest in Theni district in south Tamil Nadu.

The clearance from the MoEF is subject to that project not cutting down trees or causing damage to the forest cover. The ministry also said that the project organizers should try to minimize the effects of creating the under ground laboratory located 1,000 meters below the surface.  

Union minister for environment and forests Jairam Ramesh said, "This will be a world class laboratory for underground science and will give India an edge in research relating to understanding the fundamental laws of nature. When completed, this will house the world's most massive magnet."

Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and 20 other scientific institutions will execute the INO project which will involve the study of neutrinos or sub-atomic particles present in the atmosphere. The project will also include a huge iron detector, which will weigh over 51 kilotons, for detecting neutrinos.

The country will be the forth to carry out such a project after Canada, Japan and Italy, according to Naba K Mondal, INO spokesman and a scientist with TIFR. He said that the construction for the project is expected to begin by March 2012 after it receives Atomic Energy Commission and the central cabinet.

He also expressed that the lab will be built in a cavern which will be about 1 km below the surface and at the end of a two-km long tunnel. The projected is expected to complete by 2015 at the price of Rs 1,200 crore.