Mangaluru : The India’s first opto mechanical digital 3D 8K Swami Vivekananda Planetarium inaugurated at Dr Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisargadhama here on Thursday.

Minister for Planning, Statistics, Science and Technology MR Seetharam Inaugurated the Planetarium.

Inaugurating the new Planetarium Seetharam said, the government that has thus far spent Rs 200 crore on development of Pilikula that is spread across 375 acres will help increase the tourism potential of this tourism hub. “This place at present is touching a fraction of the 10 lakh tourist potential it has,” the minister said, adding the dedication of the state-of-the-art 3D planetarium will help attract more tourists to the region and also give the local youths a much needed diversionary and creative outlet.

Steps have been taken to increase tourist amenities and introduction of battery-operated go-carts shortly will be a major step in this direction, he said. The planetarium is the state government’s gift to people of the region, he said. Earlier, JR Lobo, Mangaluru City South MLA, associated with Pilikula’s development since its inception, then as an official, thanked all concerned for their support in helping shape the project to the level it has risen so far.

MLAs of Mulki-Moodbidri, Mangaluru City South and North MLAs, Dakshina Kannada MP, local MLC, directors/secretaries or their nominees of 5-6 departments concerned as members. This advisory body will assist the Authority, he said.

The Pilikula Development Authority, per se, will be headed by deputy commissioner, local elected representatives and officials concerned, who will work towards developing the area in to a major tourism spot. PDA, once operational, will be eligible to receive budgetary support from the state government. Hitherto, managed by Dr Shivarama Karantha Pilikula Nisargadhama, a society, it was largely dependent on gate collections and donations from philanthropists.

Dharwad is all set to become the second city in the state after this coastal city to get a 3D planetarium. The state government has sanctioned a grant of Rs 22 crore for this project and the planetarium will start functioning in 2019. The project that was initially planned as a 2D facility has since been upgraded in to a 3D digital facility with a 15-metre dome, the minister said.

The government announced Rs 3 crore grant in this year’s budget for the construction of a 10m digital planetarium at Belagavi and this could become functional by 2020.

Noting that state’s fourth planetarium will come up in Kalaburagi, thereby covering all four major geographical regions of the state, Seetharam said the government has also drawn up plans to set up sub-regional science centres in all districts of the state to go with the regional science centres at Dharwad, Mangaluru and Mysuru – that is under construction. At present, these sub-regional centres are functional at Ballari, Raichur, Bidar and Karwar, he said.

Besides, construction work on sub-regional science centres is underway at Chikkaballapur, Haveri, Bagalkote, Koppal and Davanagere and ground work has been initiated for these centres at Gadag and Madikeri, he said. The cost of each of these sub-regional science centres is estimated to be around Rs 5-6 crore, Seetharam said, adding barring Mandya, Kolar, Chitradurga and Ramanagar, these centres have been proposed for all other districts in the state.

MLA Moideen Bava, MLA Abhayachandra Jain, Mayor Kavitha Sanil, MUDA Chairman Suresh Ballal, Director of Pilikula Science Center Dr K V Rao, V Prasanna and others were present.