Agartala, Dec 8 (IANS): The Union Ministry of Culture under the 'Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPOCS)' has sanctioned Rs 36 crore for development of Thematic Galleries and Planetarium at the Science City located on the outskirts of Tripura capital Agartala.

In a letter to Union Minister of State for Social Justice Pratima Bhowmik, Union Minister for Culture, Tourism and Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) G. Kishan Reddy said that the Ministry of Culture has a unique scheme called 'Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPOCS) under which based on the requests from different state governments and Union Territories, Science Cities, Centres, Digital Planetarium and Innovation Hubs in Science Centres are set up with joint funding of Government of India and states and UTs governments.

Reddy informed Bhowmik, that under the scheme, the development of Thematic Galleries and Planetarium has been approved to be set up in Tripura -- in her constituency Agartala -- at a total cost of Rs 40 crore, with the Central share being Rs 36 crore and state's Rs 4 crore.

The Science City situated at Badharghat on the outskirts of Agartala is spread over 12.83 acres of land.

The proposed Thematic Galleries would be developed by Kolkata-based National Council for Science Museum.