SHUBHANGI SHIFA
Ranchi, Nov 2: The Varahamihira Planetarium situated on the premises of Ranchi Science City has been shut for the past several months following its reopening after the two-year break due to Coronavirus.
Officials at the Higher and Technical Education department stated that the planetarium has been shut down due to technical issues. Talking to the lagatar24 correspondent, joint secretary Abhay Kumar Sinha said, “Several devices and machines need maintenance for proper functioning. We have already contacted the National Council of Science Museum (NCSM) and a cabinet note has already been sent for approval for the same.”
Sinha further said that the state is working to get similar work done for the planetariums in Deoghar and Dumka as well and is in talks with the NCSM for the same.
Furthermore, Technical Officer at Jharkhand Council on Science, Technology and Innovation (JCSTI) Priyaranjan explained, “Initially the planetarium was opened between May and July 2022 on a trial basis after the Covid lockdown. However, we soon realized that we needed proper technicians to handle the machinery needed for the planetarium. Along with this, we also had mechanical glitches with several of the machinery due to no usage in the past several months, prior to reopening.”
“The machines here were brought from Orbit Animate in Kolkata, the Indian branch of the German company Carl Zeiss that produces these machines. As a result, managing these devices without proper training may further damage them. We are waiting for the approval from the Cabinet after which it will be decided if the technicians will be hired from here and trained, or trained personnel will be asked to join us here from Kolkata,” he added.
Notably, the Ranchi planetarium, set up in 2019 here was a Rs 27 crore project. However, during the two-year lockdown during Covid, mice and no usage of electrical devices, a lot of the machinery was severely damaged. The mice had destroyed the air conditioning plant, chairs, and even the wiring.
Before reopening the planetarium for trial, the state government had also paid the electricity bill for the past two years and had the generator fixed. Along with this, the government had also planned to develop the Science City on the lines of the Science City set up in Kolkata, for which Creative Museum Designers had also been hired. However, the work for this is still underway.
