Patna: The Patna University administration has started the process of setting up Ganga Dolphin Research Centre.

According to university sources, the Patna University syndicate - the highest decision-taking body - will soon hold a meeting where the proposal for setting up Dolphin Research Centre will be presented.

A senior university official, preferring anonymity, said: "The proposal for setting up Ganga Dolphin Research Centre will be put forward at the syndicate. As the chief minister has asked the PU administration to provide land for the research centre, else it will be shifted to Bhagalpur, the university has started the move."

Sources said the centre will be set up on the PU campus on the banks of river Ganga. Among the plot of land which the PU administration is looking includes a vast stretch at Golakpur, which is encroached by residents.

University vice-chancellor Rash Bihari Prasad Singh said: "We are serious in setting up the Dolphin Research Centre on the university campus."

Ganga dolphins are an endangered species and their decline has been primarily due to poaching.

A former teacher of Patna University, R.K. Sinha, who took up their cause and carried out research work winning international recognition. Sinha is tipped to be the first director of Dolphin Research Centre.