Addressing a press conference here today at the RSIC, Nagpur University campus, Dr Pande said unless some remedial measure is taken, in three years' time the centre, that carries out analysis of samples received from scientists, institutes and industries in the region, will have no funds to support its activities.

In October 1998, the RSIC had sought Rs 15 lakh from the State Government for its annual functioning, but the government's response so far has been negative, Pande said. For the last 17 years, the Department of Science and Technology (DST) has been bearing the centre's expenditure towards purchase and maintenance of equipment and staff salaries. But now, the DST has decided to stop the grant on salary account of the RSIC in a phased manner.

When the grantfinally stops in the year 2002, the centre would be starved of funds to pay even staff salaries, he said. In the previous financial year, the centre earned a profit of around Rs 4.76 lakhs through its facilities, but that was not sufficient to run the RSIC.

Over the years, the centre, with its sophisticated machinery available to users on a payment basis, has proved to be a boon for a large number of scientific workers, regional scientific laboratories and the State's industries. Its facilities have helped improve the quality of research in Central India.

The RSIC staff has been maintaining the costly equipment for the last 17 years without funds from the DST. This has resulted in the saving of a lot of money, but instead of getting laurels, the centre is at the receiving end, he lamented.

According to Dr Pande, the Secretary DST had visited RSIC, Nagpur recently and expressed satisfaction over its performance. He had even suggested the centre go in for national-level accreditation. Thereafter, he wrotea strong recommendation letter to the Secretary, Higher Education, Maharashtra for takeover of the RSIC staff, but the government has not taken notice of the suggestion, he said.

The RSIC Nagpur, according to Dr Pande, is one of the best-maintained centres in the country. But it also happens to be the only centre among nine others in India that has not been taken over by the State Government. The sophisticated instruments with the RSIC are currently valued at more than Rs 4 crore. The 11 personnel working at the centre have developed expertise in their respective fields. The RSIC staff should be absorbed in the Nagpur University and treated on par with the staff of other departments, said Pande.

Highlighting some of the centre's works, Pande said NEERI has utilised RSIC facilities in its projects to convert toxic gases emitted from automobile exhausts into harmless, environment-friendly gases and the preparation of zeolites from fly ash.

The High Energy Material Research Laboratory of the DefenceResearch Development Organisation, Pune, used its services in the charaterisation of new propellant in rocket-launching. Tata Consultancy, Pune, Marine Research Institute, Bhavnagar, Gujarat are extensively using the RSIC's facilities.

The Government Dental College, Nagpur, has investigated the causes of oral cancer using RSIC facilities. RITES, Mumba, a Government of India enterprise, Mumbai has approved RSIC, Nagpur as its test centre.

The RSIC facilities are being put to universal use through the Internet by the Department of Mass Communication, Nagpur University.

Another beneficiary is the Western Coalfields Limited, which is involved in a collaborative work on wear and tear of machinery through identification of metals in oils. Various universities in the country are using the facility at the centre for their basic research on superconducting materials, solar cells and conducting glasses.

Pande maintained that since the centre's facilities are user-friendly at reasonable rates, the Governmentmust see to its smooth functioning, while the DST continues to provide equipment. This would also give a boost to research and development in the region, said Pande.

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