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Patna,(BiharTimes): Patna-based Indira Gandhi Planetarium, which was inaugurated by the then chief minister, Lalu Yadav, on March 21, 1993, is going downhill.

Located in the Indira Gandhi Science Complex, the Planetarium is one of the largest in Asia. It conducts various programmes related to astronomy to increase the awareness of the audience.

However, the number of shows has gone down from eight a day to four. “The main machine which was brought from Japan has become old and weak. It can’t take the load of showing more than four times a day,” Amitabh Ghosh, director of the planetarium was quoted in the Telegraph. “However, we do make special arrangements on occasion like solar eclipse,” he further added.

A planetarium official, Sudhir Kumar, said: “Since its construction, the planetarium has not brought any major changes but it still attracts enough people in the weekends.”

Further, repetition has also become a problem. This has dropped the number of visitors. The planetarium is showing only one film, In Search of Other World, for the past one-and-a-half years. “There has to be some variety in the films shown. It is monotonous to watch the same film over and over again,” a visitor was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

What is strange is that the state government is doing nothing to revive the star attraction of Patna, though it claims to be doing so much to allure tourists.

Perhaps the reason is political as any initiative in this direction would give credit to the previous regime, feels an observer.

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