Pathani Samanta Planetarium in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 8: Pathani Samanta Planetarium was reopened following renovation about a month ago, but daily shows continue to remain disrupted there. The villain of the piece is a generator set that has been lying defunct since 2010.

Sources at the planetarium said though there was an uninterruptible power source (UPS) installed in the planetarium, it could provide electricity only for an hour. During power cuts, all the air conditioners inside the auditorium have to be kept switched off because of the non-functioning generator.

“The price of tickets has been raised here following renovation. But, the authorities are not bothered to provide the planetarium with basic facilities, such as a generator, to ensure that shows are conducted smoothly. Last Wednesday, we were forced to watch a show in a very hot and humid condition in the planetarium as the air conditioners did not function because of a power cut,” said school student Subham Panda.

The cost of tickets was raised to Rs 25 from Rs 15 for adults and Rs 15 from Rs 10 for children below 15 years after the planetarium was opened following renovation on May 29 this year. It remained closed from August 8, 2011, till May 28, 2012, for renovation.

Sources in the planetarium said about 15 shows had recently been cancelled because of interruption in power supply.

At present, the planetarium hosts four shows every day (except Monday), which include two Odia shows called Mysteries of Night Sky, one Hindi show called The Wonders of the Universe and one English show called Secrets of the Sky.

Surprisingly, though the authorities spent about Rs 6.5 crore for the recent renovation work, they could not install a generator that costs only around Rs 46,000.

“It is hard to believe that the authorities are reluctant to spend the meagre amount for a generator set whereas crores were spent for the planetarium’s renovation recently,” said an employee on condition of anonymity.

Director of the planetarium Willium Billung, however, said that the company, which would be assigned for repairing the generator set, had already given an estimate for its repair.

“There was a delay in repairing the generator because of a delay in its estimation process. The repairing process will start next week and we will very soon be able to run shows here without any disruption,” said Billung.