A prominent research facility at Mangalore University, the Centre for Application of Radioisotopes and Radiation Technology (CARRT), which has been functioning with grants from the Department of Atomic Energy for the past six years, will now be taken over by the university.
It was because the funding for the centre established in 2011 had been restricted till 2016 with future funding, if any, for research activities only.
At present, the centre is functioning partly from the overhead grants remitted to the university from the department and partly from the service charge collected by the centre from researchers, universities and other departments for availing of facilities at CARRT. Overhead grants are such money given by the department to the university for providing basic infrastructure facilities in establishing CARRT.
The centre was being used by students, researchers in physics, chemical, biological, medical and pharmaceutical sectors from across the country.
The centre was set up as per an agreement signed among Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT). According to the university, BRNS has funded ₹ 4 crore in six years in the form of research projects, supply of equipment and paying staff salary.
As the academic council of the university has approved a statute for governing the centre, it would be shortly sent to the Chancellor for approval, a university official said.
