Hyderabad: Twelve days remain before the start of the 105th Indian Science Congress. But the organisers are yet to confirm the venue.
The original plan was to hold the conclave at Osmania University campus. However due to recent protests and the suicide of a student, the organisers are contemplating changing the venue.
ISC, which is the first of its kind to be conducted in the newly-formed Telangana state, is scheduled for January 3 to 7, 2018, but the registrar of the university Mr Gopal Reddy told this newspaper that they are expected to confirm the venue on Thursday.
According to sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate ISC and it will be hosted in the Hyderabad Inter-national Convention Centre (HICC) which was the conclave for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017(GES).
Simultaneously, four other ‘side’ events, like — Science Exhibition, Children’s Science Congress, Women’s Science Congress and a Science Communicators’ meet are planned to be held at the university itself. This event will witness participation of over 20,000 delegates.
The registrations of the event have been closed by December 15 and no registrations are accepted now and participation in the 105th ISC-2018 will not be entertained by the organisers.
Professor S. Ramachandram, Vice Chancellor of the varsity said, “We are yet to confirm the venue and as soon as the venue is confirmed we will announce it.
Nothing has been confirmed so far and we ourselves are not aware of the venue. Prepa-rations are going on in the university and we still need some time to confirm the venue and to prepare for the event”.
Katuri Manvatha Roy, Chairman unemployed JAC said, “Though there is lots of confusion regarding the venue, preparations of hosting the ISC have started in the A and C grounds in the campus, which shows that the main event can happen in the varsity itself. We welcome the ISC and we are very happy that such a grand event is hosted by our Osmania University, but students are unhappy as they were given a 45 days’ holiday so that the university can conduct the event peacefully without the students. University has also shut down the hostel mess, which is causing a lot of inconvenience to the students preparing for the TRT and other competitive exams in the hostel’’.
The Indian Science Congress is an annual event that provides a common platform for Nobel laureates, eminent personalities, faculty, researchers, scholars, and students from varied backgrounds, both from India and abroad, to interact and present their research.
