The State’s much-awaited second regional science centre will be opened at Pilikula Nisargadhama next month, according to S.R. Patil, Minister for Science and Technology, Information Technology and Biotechnology.
The centre has been built at an estimated cost of Rs. 11.50 crore with funds from both the Union and State governments, he told presspersons here on Saturday.
Spread over 10 acres of land and built by National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata, it would organise a series of programmes to infuse scientific temper among people, teachers and students. It has been named as Mangalore Pilikula Regional Science Centre.
The first regional science centre of the State was opened in Dharwad in 2012. It was built at an estimated cost of Rs. 10.50 crore. The third regional science centre would come up in Mysore at an estimated cost of Rs. 14.50 crore, he said.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism Sripad Yesso Naik would inaugurate the centre here. The date of the inauguration is, however, yet to be fixed.
J.R. Lobo, MLA, Mangalore South, said that the centre would chalk out a calendar of events.
Accordingly, weekly and monthly activities for students, teachers and general public would be organised.
The centre has a virtual laboratory, a library, a computer room, a conference hall, a meeting hall, an exhibition hall, a fun science section, and sports and games facilities.
The models in the centre have been prepared in other regional science centres in the country and fixed here.
The planetarium has been named after Swami Vivekananda.
Earlier, the Minister visited the science centre and inspected work on the planetarium.
