The vivarium, or the animal biotechnology centre, sanctioned to the Karnataka Veterinary, Animal and Fisheries Sciences University (KVAFSU) in 2010, is yet to take off.
The establishment of a centre that would serve as a diagnostic laboratory and incubation centre for biotechnology-based start-ups was announced in the 2010 State Budget.
This was to come up on the premises of the KVAFSU in Nandi Nagar on the outskirts of Bidar city. The total cost of the project was to be Rs. 30 crore, but the immediate sanction was to be Rs. 5 crore, the budget document said.
The centre was to promote animal husbandry-based research and to help students turn entrepreneurs of animals, birds and fish-related businesses.
Activities in the centre were also expected to improve the quality of teaching by providing students with on-hand experience and apprenticeship programmes. The vivarium would also produce vaccines, embryo transfers, stem cell development and bioinformatics-based tools.
While the State government was to fund the establishment costs, the university was asked to set aside 20 acres of land and identify researchers. Even after five years, the centre is yet to start functioning.
Government sources say the delay was caused as the university was not clear on two counts — whether to start the centre in Bidar or Bengaluru, and to select the eligible resource persons for the centre.
“The university took two years to decide that the centre would come up in Bidar, as a similar one was already functioning in the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals in Bengaluru. That was acceptable to us as most of the 15-acre campus in Bidar remains unused. But, they took another two years to depute the director and researchers to the centre,” a senior officer in the Department of Biotechnology said.
In 2014, the State government issued a reminder to the university seeking the status of the vivarium. “Most of the animal science-based businesses now rely on biotechnology. The sector has vast potential not only for improving teaching, but also to promote entrepreneurship,” the letter said.
Work on the centre has now started, university authorities say. “Initially, we had a problem finding the right people. But now we are moving ahead steadily,” said Vice-Chancellor C. Renuka Prasad.
According to him, the centre would be fully functional in three to four months. The KVAFSU is committed to setting up the vivarium and help our students in all ways possible, he said.
