Restore Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar

To,

The Chief Minister,

Government of Odisha,

Lok Seva Bhawan, Bhubaneswar.

Subject: Urgent intervention required regarding the dilapidated condition and neglect of Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar.

Sir,

We the scientists, science teachers, science popularisation activists, amateur astronomers and students of Odisha under the banner of Bigyana Chetana Mancha (BCM), Odisha want to bring to your notice a very important issue regarding the condition of Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar. The planetariums world over are working as active centres to educate the young minds in particular and people at large on different aspects of astronomy. These centres through different activities create inquisitive mind and inculcate scientific temper.

However, we with great distress observe that the Pathani Samanta Planetarium situated at the heart of Bhubaneswar is in completely dilapidated condition. The outdoor planet park, the exhibit of different sun dials and outdoor experiments are broken, nonfunctional and in complete disarray. The inside of the planetarium is in far worse condition. The dome theatre which is the main attraction of any planetarium is not in any way suitable for the screening of astronomy related movies. All the push back chairs are broken and many of them are replaced by plastic chairs. Half of the dome screen is dark, it seems some of the projectors are out of order. The projection on the other half of the screen is also of very bad quality. As per the opinion of experts the projectors are outdated and the movies are also very old and do not incorporate the recent developments in astronomy. The other public amenities such as toilets in the planetarium also are in very bad condition. To utter surprise it came to our notice that the planetarium does not have a single telescope of its own for public viewing.

In spite of this very bad condition, people from different parts of Odisha and rest of the world visit this place with a hope to get the experience of astronomical knowledge. Therefore, to make the Planetarium not only functional but also attractive for young minds, we request you to urgently initiate the following steps:

1. Appointment of a physics/astronomy professor from a government institute as its director.
2. Planning to completely change the outdoor exhibits, so as to stimulate the young minds.
3. Completely replace the chairs, projectors and other electronic equipment inside the dome theatre.
4. To install working telescopes as exhibit.
5. To allot funds for public outreach programs of night sky watching and astronomy related presentations at schools and colleges.
6. To allot funds and devise mechanisms to plan regular visit of school and college students.
7. Modernise the toilets, put other public amenities such as restaurant, astronomy souvenir shop and book shop.
8. Appoint required number of employees, and technical persons on regular basis for smooth functioning of the planetarium.

We further wish to state that as a science organisation, we would be glad to render the technical expertise of the members for the functioning of the planetarium.

With regards

Copy to

• The Chief Secretary
• The Minister, Science and Technology Department
• The Principal Secretary, Science and Technology Department