PM Modi clears Rs 2,600 crore for setting up LIGO in Mah village

By Rajeev S Sharma : ALMOST having been put on the back burner for seven years since its approval by the Government in February 2016, consistent follow up and gritty persuasion by the Rajya Sabha MP from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Dr Fauzia Khan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured Rs 2,600 crore clearance for Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) at Dudhala village in Aundha (Nagnath) taluka of Hingoli district in Maharashtra. Expressing her gratitude towards the Prime Minister Modi for this decision, Dr Khan has called it a significant step for India in gravitational-wave astronomy, further adding the LIGO-India project of national significance will provide a major boost to the development of Marathwada during her interactions with journalists in New Delhi on Saturday.

Mentioning about her recent meeting with the Prime Minister Modi on March 23 to raise the issue of LIGO, resulting in the Cabinet providing clearance for a sum of Rs 2,600 crore for the setting up of an observatory in the Hingoli District of Maharashtra, Dr Khan also informed that the Cabinet’s decision comes after a major delay from February, 2016 when the Government had given an in-principle approval to the same. Underlining that she had requested the Prime Minister for a science city to be developed there, it could be a major boost to the development of the Marathwada area; she opined this shall improve the connectivity, roads, trains and much more of the area. The NCP MP, who had written to the PM earlier on February 28, 2023 requesting for approval to the LIGO Consortium, had also raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha in the first half of the Budget session. Dr Khan said she is grateful to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for prompt action on the issue of LIGO, adding that his intervention has been instrumental in driving this project forward.