The State government has begun hunting for alternative land in Thiruvananthapuram for establishing the Kalam Knowledge Centre and Space Museum with a heritage panel frowning on the initial choice of Kowdiar.
It is understood that one of the sites under consideration is at Pallipuram, next to the proposed Aerospace Park, a collaborative venture between the State government and ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). However, nothing has been finalised in this regard.
The Kalam Knowledge Centre and Space Museum, a ₹100-crore project being implemented by the VSSC, hit rough weather after the heritage committee declined to clear it citing Kowdiar’s status as a heritage zone.
With heritage experts adamant, the government has been forced to search for other land despite transferring 1.75 acres of land to the VSSC. In fact, the VSSC had already cleared the design for a five-storey structure with a copper-cladding envelope when the blow fell. The building alone is expected to cost ₹60 crore. According to VSSC officials, the entire project will cost more than ₹100 crore.
The heritage glitch had triggered fears that the State would lose the project, which is intended as a memorial to Kalam's association with the city during the initial days of the Indian space programme at Thumba.
Change design
When the project came before it in early January, the heritage committee comprising government representatives, architects and other experts had declined to clear it. If at all Kowdiar is to be the venue, then the design should be changed so that the structure does not spoil the landscape, the panel said. M. Chandradathan, scientific adviser to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, said the government would identify another site if the Kowdiar plan has to be dropped. “We are searching for an alternate site. But no decision has been finalised yet. If the Kowdiar site is not suitable, then the government will provide other land,”' Mr. Chandradathan, who is also a former director of the VSSC, said.
