Science centre power cut - Connection snapped after Kalimpong facility runs up dues

The Kalimpong Science Centre. Picture by Chinlop Fudong Lepcha 

 TRAJEEV RAVIDAS; TT;Kalimpong, Aug. 22: The Kalimpong Science Centre, which has experiments to illustrate the production of electricity, has been without power for a week because it has not cleared electricity dues, according to the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. Officials at the four-year-old centre said the dues of Rs 51,000 could not be cleared because they did not get the bill. But WBSEDCL gave a different version.

 “We had sent the bill to the centre on time. If the centre has not received the bill, it should have informed us. We would have issued a duplicate bill,” said Sanjiv Agarwal, the WBSEDCL assistant engineer in Kalimpong. The centre is running on a generator now. The snapping of the power line is just one problem that plagues the facility, though.

 The centre has been operating without a curator since April after the last curator, B.B. Gurung, quit the job. Gurung said he was saddened to learn about the deteriorating condition of the centre. “It will not be fair on my part to comment on the ills afflicting the centre. Kalimpong is the only science centre in Bengal that does not have a curator.

 None of the staff at the centre is a permanent employee. All 22 are contractual employees working on meagre salaries. Their jobs must be regularised otherwise their output at work will not be that good to say the least,” Gurung said. 

 The other science centres in the state are in Calcutta, Siliguri, Purulia, Burdwan and Digha. Several exhibits, such as the sculptures of pre-historic animals in the garden, lie unkempt. At the fun science gallery and digital gallery repairs are needed. “Most of the items at the centre cannot be repaired locally.

 Manpower and parts will have to be brought in from Siliguri or Calcutta,” said a staff member at the centre. One of the exhibits, called the rising arc, is an experiment to generate electricity.The fun centre also has an “intelligent room” where visitors can order a computer to switch lights on and off.

 K. K. Lohar, a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration officer in charge of the education department under which the centre falls, said the delay in the repair and replacement of damaged exhibits was because the administration in the hills was going through a transition after the formation of the GTA.

 “We have already prepared a proposal for the repair and replacement of exhibits, besides improvement of the garden at the centre. The process of appointing a curator also had to be put on hold because of the GTA election. Everything should fall in place within a month or two,” he said.