Euphoria of Jorhat District Museum

Part-I

From a Correspondent

JORHAT, Nov 6: Between the machinations of the Inspector of Schools and the vacillations of a weak district administration, the Rs 40 lakh sanctioned for the Jorhat District Museum will soon return to Central Government coffers— `unutilized’. The period of the fund sanctioned under the 12th Finance Commission will end in March, 2010.

The euphoria of the Jorhat District Museum getting a permanent premise for a full display of its rare acquisitions after 19 years has all but evaporated into thin air.

The opposition by the Inspector of Schools and a section of teachers under the banner of three separate organizations, to the pulling down of a colonial era ‘heritage’ building which once served as the Jorhat Inspector of School’s residence and constructing the museum anew has driven the nail into the coffin. The so-called ‘heritage’ building, it may be mentioned, has been certified as 75 per cent not fit to house anything and which could pose a danger to the public at large, by the PWD. If renovated, the estimated cost would escalate to more than a crore.

To fill in The Sentinel readers with a bit of background information: The Jorhat District Museum came into existence at a rented house in Club Road in 1989. It shifted into two rooms of the Post Graduate Training College in 1993 and is housed there since then. In 2004, the then State Education Minister Thaneswar Boro announced that the Inspector of School’s disused bungalow would be turned into the district museum. In 2004, the Government of Assam also issued no objection certificate to it. In 2008, January, an amount of Rs 40 lakh was sanctioned under 12th Finance Commission of India for the construction of the district museum.

The Deputy Commissioner of Jorhat, LS Changsan requested the Inspector of Schools, Jorhat vide letter no.- JDM 13/2004/XXXII/ 20 dated- May 19, 2009 to hand over the building and allotted plot for the purpose. In accordance, TC Saikia, issued a letter to the District Museum Officer, Jorhat inviting him to take charge of the land occupied by the old Bungalow of Inspector of Schools on July 17, 2009 (Letter no.-G-14/Build/Part/93/26/4673 date- July 15, 2009) and that he should arrive with the laat mandal to demarcate the allotted plot. What should have been a simple handing over ceremony fixed on July 22, 2009 was allegedly disrupted. Members of Jorhat Zila Adhibidya Parishad, Jorhat Zila Sikshak Karmachari Santha and Jorhat Zila High School Sikshak Santha who started the Save Heritage Building campaign by submitting memos to the Deputy Commissioner, etc. A cross-section of people whom this correspondent interviewed were vociferous in their support of the construction of the Jorhat Museum, were mixed in their feelings to the pulling down of the structure and blunt in their condemnation of the attitude of these three organizations.

Some of the questions raised by the public are why were these organizations invited by the Inspector of Schools in the first place? Were they instigated to stall proceedings at his behest? What vested interest does he have in renovating a building, which would incur an expense of more than a crore of taxpayers’ money?

(To be continued) THE SENTINEL