Even as the idea of establishing such a centre was mooted by Raj Bhawan some time ago, it was endorsed by the dean and heads of departments of the science faculty of PU at a meeting held here on Saturday under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor Shyam Lal.

A committee with PU pro-vice-chancellor S I Ahson as chairman and biochemistry head A K Gupta as member secretary was constituted to work out the details of the proposed centre. Patna Science College principal S N Guha is also a member of the committee.

Last month, governor's OSD R Krishna Kumar had visited the Science College campus to select a suitable site for the proposed centre. It has been tentatively decided to house the centre at the physics department. The state government and the department of science and technology (DST), government of India, have reportedly agreed to provide necessary funds and infrastructure facilities.

At another meeting of principals of colleges and heads of departments held the same day, it was decided to introduce a students' insurance scheme from the next session. Each student would be charged a token sum of Rs 10 at the time of admission. This facility would also be extended to the students of Directorate of Distance Education (DDE).