Jamshedpur: The renovated museum at Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary, some 30km from here, will be thrown open to tourists next month.

While the ground floor is already in place, workers are busy giving final touches to the first floor. The museum will be equipped with a library, an interactive audio-visual space and models of animals found at the sanctuary.

Located near the main entry point of the sprawling 192sqkm jumbo abode at Makulakocha, the museum is being built by the state forest department at a cost of Rs 45.03 lakh under the Rs 3-crore eco-tourism project.

Work gained momentum after Dalma range officer R.P. Singh started personally monitoring the project.

"I don't think there are any issues related to the opening of the museum for tourists next month. Progress is very satisfactory. The ground floor is complete and reinforcement work on the first floor is underway in full swing," Singh said.

The range officer said there was need to strengthen the security around the museum because it would host rare and expensive exhibits such as elephant tusks, barking deer antlers and stuffed animals, birds and reptiles.

"Footfall will increase once the renovated museum opens. So, it is necessary to tighten the security apparatus. Forest guards will be deployed round-the-clock," Singh added.

The Dalma range office has enviable collection of ivory, part of which were seized from poachers. "We also find tusks after bullfights between elephants inside the sanctuary. The ivory and antlers have been kept at a locker in the range office," an official said.

While models of animals will be displayed on the ground floor, the library and interactive audio-visual space will be on the first floor.

Range officer Singh said the museum was primarily aimed at educating school and college students who often visit the sanctuary to learn about flora and fauna. Resource persons will be available to educate students and attend to tourists flocking the sanctuary.

Gujarat-based designer Avinesh Chauhan is arranging the models of stuffed animals, which will be in place soon.

The bamboo hut, located near the museum, is also scheduled also to be inaugurated next month. The facility, which has replaced the old and dilapidated one, has been built at a cost of Rs 6.5 lakh under the eco-tourism project.

The two-room air-conditioned bamboo hut that has been tastefully decorated is all set to be a major attraction for tourists flocking the sanctuary from Jharkhand, Bengal, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

The hut also has two attached toilets, a drawing-cum-dining room, bamboo furniture and a verandah in the front.

Foresters are planning to open the two facilities together.