The popular Mahant Ghasidas Memorial Museum in Raipur is suffering from ‘Space Crunch’ with difficulties now faced in displaying a collection of ancient items. The problem is due to the rooms acquired by the Directorate of Culture and Archaeology at the back-side of the museum on a temporary basis.
Stating the problem, official sources told The Pioneer, “We have a collection of 2nd century silver coins as well as copper plates of 9, 10 and 11 centuries. Unfortunately, none of them could be displayed inside the museum since there is lack of space.” “Unless, the Directorate is not shifted from the museum, we cannot showcase many such historic pieces,” sources added.
Citing a solution for the pending problem, State Archaeology Department Deputy Director Rahul Kumar Singh said talks of shifting the Directorate to the first floor of Police Headquarters (PHQ) are going on at higher level where the office of State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) is located.
However, he was unaware as to when the shifting process would begin. “We expect that the extension of museum space is important,” he said.
Meanwhile, Rakesh Chaturvedi Director of State Archaeology Directorate informed about the renovation work underway at the Police Headquarter premises. “The rooms at PHQ’s first floor need to be repaired before shifting the Directorate from the Museum. We hope to complete the shifting process by the end of the year,” he said.
Notably, the State Government charges 1` from visitors to go through the historical items placed inside the museum. There are varieties of statues of god and goddess, Madhubani paintings, wood and wax models of different eras representing the local art and culture of Chhattisgarh.
“The turn-out of visitors is appreciable on weekends and week days. Though the museum is closed every Monday but it hardly affects the number of visitors coming here as the two gardens and stage also showcases cultural artifacts with Dhokra wall paintings and stone-made statues,” said an aged Private Security Agency Guard deployed at the museum premises.
Almost, every fortnight, cultural or literary programmes are held in the museum premises which receives a huge response from the locals.