Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam had collapsed and died while interacting with students at IIM Shillong; doing something he loved the most. Now a memorial for Kalam will come up at the place where he breathed his last.
The knowledge centre will be set up as an annexure of the Kalam Smriti International and Space Museum, based in Thiruvananthapuram. The proposed hub would connect the place where Kalam had breathed last and Thiruvananthapuram, his "second home".
"It will be an apt tribute to Kalam. We are discussing the modalities and possible location of the centre. We hope to achieve this within a year,” Abu Taher Mondal, speaker of Meghalaya Assembly, who had come to Kalam Smrithi in Thiruvananthapuram to be part of a Kalam memorial function. Mondal, who had spent that eventful evening with Kalam, also accompanied the mortal remains to New Delhi.
The Meghalaya government's decision comes in response to a proposal submitted by the northeast MP forum, headed by Bhubaneswar Kalita MP. Kalitha, a Rajya Sabha member from Assam, is also the patron of Kalam Smriti International on the Daleview campus, in Thiruvananthapuram.
"Our patron had proposed to set up a knowledge centre in Shillong. We are so happy that the respected Megalaya speaker is taking keen interest in it," said Shaiju Alfi of Kalam Smriti.
According to him, it has been conceived as a knowledge centre the way Kalam wanted. "He was always concerned about connecting rural India and the city centres. The proposed knowledge hub will be in tune with his dreams," said Alfi.
The Kalam Smrithi and space museum was inaugurated by former chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), K. Radakrishnan, earlier this month. The exhibits include a replica of India's heavy-lift launch vehicle GSLV Mk-III. The model of GSLV Mk-III that was recently launched is also exhibited there.
