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
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