An aquarium, a hatchery and a knowledge centre would be part of the Vizhinjam Research Centre of the Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute(CMFRI) at Vizhinkam, the director general of the Indian Council for Agricultural Research S. Ayyappan has said.
He was the guest of honour at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the office-cum laboratory of the research centre at Vizhinjam on Saturday. The VRC building would resemble a conch shell and would be ready in a year or so, he added.
The VRC would also initiate capacity building measures in the fisheries sector and funds would be need for all this in the 12th five-year plan, he added.
The Chief Minister Oommen Chandy unveiled the foundation stone for the VRC being set up on land leased to the CMFRI for 99 years by the State Government.
In his address Mr.Chandy said it was the state government’s policy to allot land on a priority basis for centres of excellence such as the VRC. Land is a scarce commodity in Kerala. All the same the government is committed to providing infrastructural facilities for science and technology ventures.
A case in point is the 20 acres of land allotted to the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Science and Technology(RGCB) at Akkulam and the land given to the southern regional centre of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, he pointed out. The foundation stone for the new RGCB complex is expected to be laid in November 2011, he added.
Speaking on the occasion Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor described the foundation stone laying ceremony as a historic occasion which has given a new lease of life to the CMFRI. Steps should be taken to ensure that the VRC gets enough funds in the 12th Plan to evolve into a “major institution of national importance,” he said. “Vizhinjam deserves nothing less, Thiruvananthapuram deserves nothing less,” he added.
The CMFRI director G. Syda Rao, MLA Jameela Prakasam, the deputy director general, fisheries of the ICAR, B. Meenakumari, and scientist-in-charge Rani Mary George were among those who were present.
