Siliguri, Aug. 17: The National Council of Science Museum will set up a planetarium at the North Bengal Science Centre (NBSC) near here at a cost of Rs 50 lakh. The facility, to be completed by March next year, will have a seating capacity of 50.

“After Calcutta, Siliguri will be the second place in Bengal to have a planetarium,” said Jayanto Stanapati, the director of Birla Industrial Technological Museum (BITM).

Stanapati was at the NBSC, located at Matigara, 6km from here, to attend a function in which a 3-D Vision Theatre was inaugurated by Asok Bhattacharya, the Bengal urban development and municipal affairs minister.

“The centre was opened on August 17, 1997 and lakhs of people have visited it ever since. Today, when it completes 11 years, the theatre will definitely be an added attraction for spectators,” said Stanapati.

After the BITM and the Science City in Calcutta and Digha, Siliguri is the fourth place where a CD theatre has been opened. “The main objective is to attract more youths and students to the centre as the theatre will help them learn science through entertainment,” said Rajib Nath, the project coordinator of the science centre.

The theatre will have six shows a day and the duration of the show is 30 minutes