Jorhat, Dec. 28: India Post has come out with a special cover on Jorhat science centre and planetarium.

The Sivasagar division under Dibrugarh region of Assam circle of the postal department, which has jurisdiction over five out of seven districts in Upper Assam, released the special cover (an envelop) yesterday.

The superintendent of posts offices (Sivasagar division), Rupak Kumar Chaudhary, released the special cover on the Jorhat head post office premises in presence of the institute's curator Pranabjyoti Chetia.

The institute was established on July 6, 2013, to develop scientific temperament among people in general and youths in particular. Schools of all the Upper Assam districts often bring their students to the institute as part of educational tours.

The institute also runs a mobile science laboratory project under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Siksha Abhijan in collaboration with the Assam State Technology and Environment Society and Unicef.

Chetia told The Telegraph that it was matter of pride for the institute to have a special cover on it within a short period of time. He hoped the postal department's move would boost the institute's endeavour to promote science.

The business development marketing executive (Sivasagar postal division), Sudipta Bhagawati, said a postal division brings out a special cover or a stamp on great personalities, historical monuments or events from time to time to commemorate their contributions to society. He said the objective of the initiative was to highlight the significance of the event/personality/institute.

These special covers or stamps are collector's item and sold to people, especially philatelists. They are kept in the postal museum in Delhi and exhibited in various philatelic exhibitions across the country, he added.

There are two categories in the process of bringing out special covers - the government category for which no fee is charged and the private one for which there is a fee of Rs 12,500.

Bhagawati said the institute was selected as it is the only one of its kind in the region rendering "excellent public service".

He said the department also released a special cover on the bungalow of a tea planter's family here that completed 100 years in 2010. The name of the bungalow is Bosabari House at KKB Road belonging to the famous Barooah family.

Pranab Kumar Borpatragohain, postal inspector, public grievances, Sivasagar division, said altogether 500 special covers - 250 each for the institute and the bungalow - will be printed with each cover priced at Rs 5.

Borpatragohain said 100 special covers (50 each) would be sold at the Jorhat head post office while the remaining would be sent to the Assam circle office for distributing them. They will be sold in other eight divisions in the state.

He said a few would be sent to the directorate of post offices, New Delhi, for official record and for distributing it to other states.