VIJAYAWADA: If all goes according to plan, a 3D planetarium and theatre will come up on the Andhra Pradesh Council of Science and Technology (APCOST) premises on the banks of River Krishna. The Rs 60 lakh project aims at imbibing scientific knowledge among the children in the city.
According to concerned officials, almost 16 years ago, five acres of land was allocated for establishing Regional Science Centre (RSC) in the United Andhra Pradesh on the banks of River Krishna.However, only two acres were utilised for the purpose and the remaining land was encroached. Taking a serious note of the matter the officials conducted a special drive and cleared the encroachments during the Krishna Pushkaralu, 2016.
Currently, the land is being utilised for conducting cultural fairs and exhibitions by private persons. A couple of months ago, the State government appointed Y Aparna as member secretary for APCOST. Recently, a team of officials conducted a ground-level survey and recovered the encroached land and submitted a detailed report to the State government for improving amenities at the RSC and making it accessible for the students.
A senior RSC official said a proposal in this regard has been sent to the State government seeking approval. “As the RSC is located on the banks of River Krishna, we have taken the support of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) officials to level the land and develop a technopark to imbibe scientific knowledge among the students. Recently, works relating to the construction of a compound wall were commenced at an estimated cost of Rs 40 lakh,” the official said.
Besides that, an MoU was also exchanged with the National Council of Science Museums (NCSM), Kolkata for upgrading advanced scientific facilities at the RSC, the official added. Recently, Collector J Nivas along with Municipal Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh inspected the APCOST centre.