The existing 48-inch telescope has been non-functional for over 20 years; no funds to buy a new one

The Japal-Rangapur Observatory of Osmania University established in 200 acres between Japal and Rangapur villages of Manchal mandal in Ranga Reddy district has fallen into disuse, and awaits transformation into an engineering college.

Proposals to convert the premises into a college have been sent to the government for support under the Rashtriya Uchhatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), say officials.

“We have sent proposals to the Central government, as it cannot be done without their support. We need new buildings for the college, and accommodation for the staff and students, as the observatory is located at an interior place,” says the acting director of the facility and principal of OU Science College K. Pratap Reddy.

Prof. Pratap reddy has the additional charge as director, as the Astronomy Department at the university does not have any faculty in the professor cadre.

The observatory, once famed for having Asia’s largest telescope, has slipped to second place after a modern 93-inch telescope was installed at Vainu Bappu Observatory in Kavalur of Tamil Nadu. With the telescope eventually becoming outdated, it is nowhere in the reckoning now.

The facility, nevertheless, has seen better days, with astronomers across the world arriving here to monitor the Total Solar Eclipse in 1980, and to observe the comets such as Halley and Shoemaker-Levy in the subsequent years.

When the facility was proposed in 1950s which became operational in the late ‘60s, it was to replace the Nizamia Observatory at Begumpet, which too has been relegated to history books. As the city expanded, the increasing light pollution made stargazing impossible, hence the need for a new observatory.

The same fate has struck the Japal-Rangapur Observatory too. With the surrounding villages becoming highly urbanised, light pollution has rendered the existing 48-inch telescope non-functional for over 20 years. Precipitating its obsolescence were technological advancement in telescopes, and new observatories coming up in Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.

Installation of a new telescope means fresh expenditure of Rs. 4-5 crore for the university, which is not in a position to spend such a huge amount on astronomy without external funding, Prof. Pratap Reddy says.

Two more telescopes exist here, one brought from Nizamia Observatory and locked up in a dome which no longer functions, and another functional one, used by students who visit the observatory for practicals.

The staff is as good as non-existent. All the 24 scientific cadre posts, including seven professors’, are vacant.

Among the seven existing staff members, six are class-IV employees and only three are permanent. One is due for retirement next month. The last recruitment for the observatory was done in 1989, Prof. Pratap Reddy informs.

Staff quarters inside the premises are locked up and deserted, so is the weather station, owing to lack of climate experts.