Netaji museum inaugurated in Puri

PURI: Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management Maheswar Mohanty inaugurated Netaji Subash Bose museum at Gopalballav Road in the pilgrim town on Tuesday.
In its eight big rooms and a hall, the items used by Netaji have been kept for display to public. A committee, headed by the Collector, has been formed to manage the museum. Visitors will have to pay `10 per head for entry into the museum.

The Minister also unveiled a life-size statue of Netaji on museum premises in the presence of Tourism and Culture Minister Ashok Panda.
As per reports, Netaji’s father Janakinath Bose had taken about half acre of land near Puri beach in 1916 on lease and constructed a house where he was living along with family. After demise of Janakinath, the property was recorded in favour of his sons including Netaji.

Later, Netaji’s relatives had filed a petition with the Revenue Officer in 1997 to alienate his name from the land records. Since they could not produce his death certificate, the court rejected their petition.
Then, Puri Sambadik Sangha president Jagannath Bastia approached the Minister of Culture to take over the Netaji house and develop it into a museum. INTACH was then entrusted to develop the museum with an estimated cost of `three crore.

Among others, Secretary of Culture department Manoranjan Panigrahi and Director of Culture Bijay Kumar Naik were present.
At another function, the Revenue Minister also inaugurated the statue of famous bhajan singer Banikanth Nimai Charan Harichandan on Sanskruti Bhawan premises.