By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, May 25: Is the Guwahati planetarium left for dead? It seems Dispur does not want to waste its time and energy on the problems that afflict the planetarium and feels it has more important things to do. The type of importance accorded to the planetarium since its inception in 1994 gives one such a feeling.
According to sources in the planetarium, till 2002 the planetarium had been run by project engineers of the Department of Science and Technology, Assam. From 2002, the charge of the planetarium was given to the director, always an as additiol charge.
"Till today since 2002, the planetarium never had a full-fledged full-director. Since when the planetarium was entrusted to a director as an additiol charge, it has not been given the required attention by Dispur," the sources said.
According to sources, the absence of a supervisor has practically created many problems in the maintence of the planetarium. Due to the absence of a full-fledged director, the staff are not doing their job efficiently, the sources said.
"The planetarium does not have any library and training centre for the public and students as well, even though training is a must. Even there is no book or video about the planetarium. It also doesn't have a proper observatory. It can't maintain its valuable assets. The machines for observing the sky and planets are lying without care," sources said, and added: "There's no vision for the planetarium. Films about the space that are shown in the planetarium should be changed after every six months. The last film shown in the planetarium has not been changed even after eight months."