Bhubaneswar: The state government is planning to introduce entry fee at the Museum of Tribal Arts and Artefacts here after upgrading it with new facilities.

The museum will be renamed as State Tribal Museum. The new facilities will be mainly for elderly and persons with physical disabilities. Beside, certain sections inside the museum will also be redesigned.

A mobile cart worth Rs 5 lakh has been procured using which the visitors will be able to travel on the museum premises without any hassle. Besides, the museum here will act as the nodal agency for the nine other district museums, which will be come up in nine tribal-dominated districts shortly. "We have planned to upgrade the existing museum and will set up nine other museums in other districts. The recently formed special development council will execute the project. A roadmap has been prepared to complete the project on time," said an official of ST and SC development, minority and backward classes welfare department.

According to the plan, nine museums will come up at Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Nabarangpur, Malkangiri, Koraput, Sundargarh, Rayagada, Gajapati and Kandhamal. A budget of Rs108 crore has been approved for the project, which will be completed and inaugurated on August 15 next year.

"The state museum here will be the nodal museum. We have planned to construct the museums based on the dominance of tribal communities existing in respective districts," said the official.