ARIYALUR: A project proposal on behalf of Bharathidasan University to establish a fossil museum with Central government aid near Ariyalur will be forwarded to the Tamil Nadu government shortly, said district collector T Abraham.
The presence of a large number of dinosaur eggs in the Ninniyur channel near Senthurai in Ariyalur district was discovered by the faculty of the geology department of the university. District collector Abraham visited the Ninniyur channel on Wednesday, where dinosaur eggs and images are found in plenty.
Later addressing the media, the collector said that the pile of eggs had been sent for testing to check whether they belonged to the dinosaur family.
Quite a lot of fossils and dinosaur eggs have been recovered from the limestone mines that are dug by the cement factories of Ariyalur area.
These are now in the custody of the public and the cement factory management. These should be handed over to the district administration, he said.
A project proposal will be forwarded to the government shortly on establishing a fossils museum, comprising the fossils and images found in the Ariyalur area.
This will be funded by the Central government on behalf of the Bharathidasan university at an estimated cost of Rs 15 crore. Land measuring 50 acres has been identified near Keezhapazhur for the purpose.
The Ninniyur channel near Senthurai has been provided adequate protection by fencing off the entire area by the revenue department, collector Abraham added.
District superintendent of police Najmul Hoda, epigraphist L Thyagarajan, geologist S M Chandrasekar, RDO Jeevarathinam, tahsildar Kasi and others were present at the meet.
The Collector Abraham later inspected the fossil items that have been preserved at the Arasu Cement Factory limestone mine and also the site for the museum.