India News | Science Centre, Digital Planetarium to Come Up in Arunachal's Dirang

Itanagar, Jan 19 (PTI) The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Arunachal Pradesh government for setting up a science centre and digital planetarium at Dirang in West Kameng district.

The centre and the planetarium will be set up by NCSM at an estimated cost of Rs 26.70 crore and Rs 15.60 crore, respectively, under the Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPoCS) of the Union culture ministry, an official communiqué said.

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The Arunachal Pradesh State Council for Science & Technology (APSCS&T), under the state department of science & technology, inked the pact with the NCSM in New Delhi. The science centre and the digital planetarium would be of category II.

"This will be the third science centre in Arunachal Pradesh after Itanagar and Namsai. While the centre in Itanagar is already functional, a MoU was signed for setting up a centre and planetarium at Namsai on December 18 last year. The people of the eastern and western parts of the state will benefit from these centres and planetaria," state science and technology secretary R Ronya said after the pact.

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NCSM deputy director general Samarendra Kumar said it has so far developed 23 science centres and handed them over to different state and UT governments.

"With development of the northeastern part of the country a priority of the government, the NCSM will be glad to set up science centres and planetaria in this part of the country. The centres not only act as tourist destinations, but also help develop scientific temperament in society," NCSM director general AD Choudhury said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)