Bengal to have a museum on the history of partition

The West Bengal government has decided to set up a museum on the history of the partition of India, in the now-closed Alipore Central Correctional Home.

The exhibits at the proposed museum will provide visitors with a unique glimpse into the sufferings of millions of people who lived in West Bengal and the then East Pakistan (Bangladesh) a couple of years after Indian Independence.

The chairman of West Bengal Heritage Commission, Shuvaprasanna told DH that the Committee had already sent a report to the state government regarding the proposed museum and the matter is progressing swiftly.

The museum would exhibit old paintings, newspaper cuttings, models and representation of migrants during that period.

Freedom fighters like Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Chittaranjan Das, Aurobindo Ghosh who were lodged at the old Alipore jail during freedom struggle would be featured. The Correctional Home was closed down and the inmates were shifted to a new correctional facility in South 24 Parganas district.

According to sources, at the State Secretariat, the cells in which these freedom fighters were lodged will be restored afresh and will have detailed information on their lives and work.

“Since the Alipore Central Correctional Home is a Heritage Building itself any restoration work has to be done without any alteration to its basic structure. We have chosen the jail hospital to set up the museum,” said Shuvaprasanna.

A committee of experts has been set up to finalise the exhibits and the restoration work. However, the date of completion of the project is yet to be finalised. The project will be supervised by the state Department of Information and Culture, he added.

This will be the second partition museum in the country post the Partition Museum in Amritsar, established on October 24, 2015.