Cuttack, March 3: The ancestral house of Biju Patnaik, Anand Bhavan, where the former chief minister spent his childhood days will be converted into a memorial museum.

The public works department's road & buildings division has taken the onus of restoring the monument and beautifying the surroundings of the structure.

"As part of an integral development plan, a full-fledged restoration process of the heritage building for display of relics associated with Biju babu is nearly completed," executive engineer of roads & buildings (Cuttack division) Pramod Kumar Nayak told The Telegraph today. However, as things stand today the monument is far from being converted to a memorial museum as no decision has been taken about how it would be managed.

In 2006, the state culture department had appealed chief minister Naveen Patnaik to hand over Anand Bhawan to it, so that it could be converted into a memorial museum. On January 13, 2015, Biju Patnaik's sons - Naveen Patnaik and Prem Patnaik - donated the building to the people of Odisha.

The gift deed said: "Anand Bhawan being the karma bhoomi and janma bhoomi of the great son of Odisha (Biju Babu) bears the legacy of his selfless and dedicated service to the people of Odisha and for the intense love and affection of the people towards late Biju Babu and his dreams of modern Odisha the donors consider it expedient that the scheduled property be owned and enjoyed by the people of the state".

According to the government bench mark, the gift deed of half acre land and the building constructed over 5000 sqft valued at Rs 1.62 crore.

The restoration started an year ago after the state government sanctioned Rs 1.08 crore to the works department. "A library-cum-learning centre is coming up on the first floor and galleries with glass partitions will built on the ground floor to house Biju babu's personal belongings, photographs and other memorabilia," Nayak said.

"It's a pity that the memorial museum could not be completed in the birth centenary celebration year of Biju Babu which ends on March 5," said social activist Chittaranjan Mohanty. Cuttack Collector Nirmal Chandra Mishra told The Telegraph today: "The restoration of Anand Bhawan is expected to be completed shortly and the district administration has already submitted a proposal to the state culture department for converting it into a museum-cum-learning centre."

A source said the state culture department planned to form a trust to manage the day-to-day affairs of the proposed national memorial museum.

Biju Patnaik was said to be very fond of reading detective books and scientific articles that are still there in Anand Bhawan. His mementos, furniture and other belongings are also there in the building. This apart, a large number of documents about his life have been preserved in the house.