It’s been a staggering nine years, and despite an investment exceeding ₹20 crore, two ambitious science projects in Kerala — a cutting-edge space theatre at Kerala Science City in Kottayam and a modern planetarium at the Regional Science Centre in Chalakudy — are still far from completion. These facilities, designed to inspire and educate, remain inaccessible to the public.
Both structures, intended to be beacons of scientific exploration, languish unfinished, a fact brought to light by a recent report from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) covering the period up to March 2023.
The CAG report delivers a scathing critique of the Kerala State Science and Technology Museum (KSSTM), the autonomous government institution overseeing these projects. It explicitly points to a glaring lack of coordination and insufficient oversight, leading to a colossal “infructuous expenditure” of ₹15.03 crore on the two buildings alone, plus an additional ₹5.05 crore wasted on equipment that now sits idle.
Initial administrative approval for these dual projects totaled ₹28 crore. The Habitat Technology Group was engaged as the architectural and structural consultant for the space theatre and was also tasked with the construction of the Chalakudy planetarium.
At the Kottayam space theatre, which was envisioned to house both a planetarium and a space gallery, construction stalled because crucial micro-concreting work on the protective cap brim couldn’t be carried out. An attempt to propose an alternative material failed to receive approval, further complicating matters. Beyond this, several other technical hurdles emerged, grinding all progress to a halt between 2018 and 2019. Shockingly, even as the building remained unfinished, KSSTM went ahead and purchased a projection dome, costing the state a hefty ₹1.87 crore, which now lies dormant.
A June 2022 audit uncovered a critical flaw: the contractor lacked the necessary experience in micro-concreting, a fundamental requirement for the project. By February 2023, essential tasks such as the dome’s erection, installation of all planetarium equipment (including projectors), and interior finishing were still incomplete.
The Chalakudy planetarium project suffered from its own set of egregious errors. Its completion date was pushed back repeatedly due to design alterations, a change in the dome’s orientation from horizontal to tilted, and protracted delays in getting revised designs approved by KSSTM. A critical misstep occurred after concreting: waterproofing was applied before the cement mortar plastering, leading predictably to significant water seepage through the dome’s construction joints in 2019. Furthermore, the acoustic paneling contract, initially with Habitat, was bafflingly reassigned to another agency, costing an additional ₹5.24 lakh. Even after the dome was finally plastered in October 2020 – a full three years after the site was handed over – and the building declared “completed” in 2021, the dome leaked during the very next monsoon season. This ongoing seepage severely damaged the internal soundproofing materials and rendered expensive imported equipment, like the tilted dome and projector, completely unusable.
The audit report strongly urged the government to hold negligent officials accountable and to take immediate, decisive action to ensure these long-delayed projects finally become operational.
Despite the critical nature of these findings, the report noted that the issues were brought to the government’s attention last July, with follow-up reminders sent in September, yet no official response has been received.
In response to inquiries, KSSTM Director P. Suresh Kumar stated that while the broader Science City at Kottayam is now open, the planetarium section awaits completion due to a Supreme Court case concerning its equipment. He indicated that work would resume once a ruling is issued. Regarding the Chalakudy planetarium’s persistent leakage, Kumar acknowledged the government’s awareness and mentioned that steps are actively being taken to resolve the issue, with a meeting scheduled shortly to address the problem.