Museums in Berhampur city wallow in neglect

As International Museum Day is celebrated across the world on Saturday, a museum run by the state government here lies in utter neglect.

In fact, very few people of the Silk City know the existence of the district museum at Jaya Prakash Nagar here. Without having its own building and necessary infrastructure, the museum functions from a rented house. It has changed its location ten times since it was established in 1976 at the industrial estate at Ankuli on the outskirts of the town. It was moved to Jaya Prakash Nagar last year, sources said.

Locals said the district museum had very few exhibits. It only has a few stone-carved idols, brass metal works, tribal weapons and models of wild animals. District culture officer Krushan Chandra Nishank said there was a proposal to shift the museum to the proposed Sanskruti Bhawan at Hillpatna area in the town. But construction work for the building is yet to start.

Berhampur MLA R Ch Chyaupatnaik said about one acre land had been acquired for the Sanskruti Bhawan. The government had also sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the project. "The road and building department would soon start the work," he added. "Once the museum is shifted to a permanent venue, we will collect valuable exhibits from the public as well as from other museums," Nishank said.

Meanwhile, Berhampur University authorities said they were not getting funds from either the state or the Centre to run the varsity museum. It has several rare books, tribal ornaments from southern Orissa districts including Kandhamal, Koraput, Malkanagiri, Rayagada and Gajapati, and ancient palm-leaf manuscripts. "We run the museum from our own resources," vice chancellor J K Mohapatra said. Source: ToI