Chittaranjan Das?s house below Chowrastha. Picture by Suman Tamang

Darjeeling, June 19: The hill town is looking to strengthen its links with history.

The house where Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das spent his last days in Darjeeling is set to be converted into a museum. The historic building below Chowrastha, neglected for long and in need of immediate repair, will be the country?s only museum dedicated to Deshbandhu.

?We have approached the minister of culture (Ambika Soni) with a Rs 33-lakh proposal to renovate the building under the department?s financial assistance scheme for strengthening of local museums. We expect to receive the funds by September end,? said Jyotishman Chattopaddhaya, subdivisional officer, Darjeeling.

The two-storied building houses some rare photographs, including the one taken during Mahatma Gandhi?s only visit to Darjeeling in 1922 to meet Deshbandhu. Apart from the photographs, the bed on which C.R. Das passed away on June 16, 1925 can also be found in the house.

The building was taken over by the state government in 1953 and given over to Deshbandhu Memorial Society, formed the same year by then governor of Bengal Haren Mukherjee. However, the society has been near defunct since 1991-91, though a mother-child clinic is still run from the building.

?We have begun by restructuring the trust as it was found that most of the members were from Calcutta and the meetings would usually be held at Raj Bhawan there,? said Chattopaddhaya. Present Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi took the initiative to reshape the trust, which has always been headed by the governor of the state. Afterwards, the plan for the museum was worked out at a meeting attended by officials of the Indian Museum, public works department, Netaji Institute of Studies and the district administration.

It was agreed that the museum would be housed on the first floor, while the mother-child clinic would continue to function from the ground floor. Chattopaddhaya has been appointed the assistant secretary of the trust.

District officials will also visit Justice Munjula Bose, granddaughter of Deshbandhu, who has promised to give some of the articles used by him to the museum.