Balurghat, Dec. 16: Work on Balurghat Museum has begun afresh.

Member of the Craft Museum Welfare Handicraft Development Organisation Sisir Majumdar and sculptor Uma Siddhanta had visited the abandoned subdivisional jail, the site of the museum, to inspect the building and work out the details.

The public works department has been instructed to follow the plan chalked out by the visiting team but a further report from Calcutta is awaited, district magistrate Romit Mutsuddi said.

South Dinajpur is full of historical evidences of the Pala, Sena and Mughal dynasties. Very often, these evidences, in the form of artefacts, have been unearthed in various parts of the district by farmers and workers while ploughing or digging land for construction.

If the artefact is an idol or a statuette of a deity, it is often smeared with vermilion and oil and worshipped by villagers. Any other historical find makes its way to police stations where it is left to languish and disintegrate, that is, if the police are informed in time.

On some occasions, the historical exhibits are used by administrative officers as props and adornments in their drawing rooms. For the last three years, however, the late Achintya Krishna Goswami, professor of Sanskrit of Balurghat College, had collected different historical exhibits and preserved them in the college and district library.

Though the college has preserved the exhibits scientifically, those in the library are in a bad state.

In 1995, the South Dinajpur Museum Society was formed. It was a registered committee comprising members of the district administration, ministers and other prominent personalities of the district. Goswami was the prime mover of the committee.

Balurghat MLA and jail minister Biswanath Chowdhury had taken the initiative to convert the abandoned building of the subdivision jail next to the office of the district superintendent of police into a museum. A report on the more-than-Rs 1 crore-project was also prepared.

Though the district planning officer was the secretary of the museum committee, the zilla parishad sabhadhipati the president, the district magistrate the working president and the jail minister the chief patron of the panel, museum matters did not make much headway. An appeal was made to the ministry of culture at the Centre for funds. Though the Centre sanctioned Rs 2.5 lakh and promised to give the remaining amount on producing the Utility Certificate of the sanctioned sum, no effort was made to utilise the money.

That was three years ago. But recently, a fresh initiative has been taken to develop the museum. Chowdhury has given Rs 6.67 lakh from the MLA fund.

According to the district magistrate, the first phase of work will be completed within the next two months. Related departments and the superintendent of police have been asked to draw up a list of artefacts that have been found in the different blocks and police stations of the district.

“A lot of time has been wasted. But the work that has been undertaken will be completed. In terms of funds too, I don’t think there will be much of a problem,” the jail minister said.