Patna University to get 4 research centres soon

PATNA: Research activities are likely to get a fillip in Patna University (PU) soon with the establishment of as many as four ambitious research centres on its campus. Necessary groundwork for establishing these centres has already been completed and the construction work would start as soon as the situation created due to the current pandemic eases.
PU development officer Parimal Kumar Khan said Union minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey is likely to lay the foundation stone of Population Research Centre (PRC) building at Rani Ghat in July.An MoU between the Union health ministry and PU with regard to the construction and functioning of the centre is likely to be signed next week.
According to the plan already approved by the ministry, an administrative block and classrooms would be constructed in the first phase at an estimated cost of Rs 8.5 crore. In the second phase, a guesthouse and a data centre would be constructed at a cost of Rs4.5 crore. The funds for construction work on a plot of about 1 acre of land would be made available to PU by the ministry, said Khan.
Presently functioning from an annexe of PU statistics department, PRC will start advanced courses and training centres in Big Data Statistics and Biostatistics besides carrying out its population research activities.
Another research centre of national importance to be set up in PU is the much-publicised Dolphin Research Centre. The hurdles in establishing this centre have already been removed with PU granting permission for registration of the proposed centre under the Societies’ Registration Act. A plot of 2.5 acres of land at Rani Ghat in front of Patna Law College has already been earmarked for the centre to be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs32 crore. CM Nitish Kumar is expected to lay its foundation stone soon, said Khan.
The third one is the Centre for Advanced Seismological Research. The building for housing the centre has almost been completed on Patna Science College grounds. Bihar State Disaster Management Authority (BSDMA)is likely to appoint the personnel required for running the centre. Necessary instruments would be purchased only after the appointment of personnel, said BSDMA sources.
Yet another centre, named ‘PU Science Research Centre’, is being set up at Patna Science College grounds adjacent to the seismological research centre at an estimated cost of Rs 8.5 crore. Funds have been made available to PU by Rashtriya Uchchtar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), said the development officer.