Capt to inaugurate Partition Museum on Aug 17
CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh will inaugurate India’s first Partition Museum in the historic Town Hall building of Amritsar on August 17.
Talking to mediapersons on Monday, Punjab tourism and culture minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said the day of inauguration will be observed as ‘Partition Remembrance Day’ in the memory of people affected by the 1947 event in Punjab and West Bengal.
Sidhu said the museum, being set up by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Trust, will also boost tourism in Punjab.
Trust chairperson Kishwar Desai said the Trust was also running an online campaign ‘Chalo Amritsar’ for Partition Remembrance Day. She said they expected affected families from India and Pakistan to take part in the inaugural function, and before that send their stories that could be included in the museum.
The museum will house official documents and showcase carefully curated stories of partition survivors. Being created as a people’s museum, it has access to over 5,000 items of oral histories, documents, artefacts and art objects.
‘VIRASAT-E-KHALSA A WHITE ELEPHANT’
Sidhu said Ananpur Sahib’s Virasat-e-Khalsa museum on Sikhism set up by the previous Akali regime had turned out to be a “white elephant”, with the government spending ₹12 crore annually to maintain it.
Citing examples of other museums, Sidhu said such installations need to be self-sufficient so that they continue to be operational for a long time.
He also called for nominal entry fee at the museum, adding no decision had been taken so far.
MUSEUM, BEING SET UP BY THE ARTS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE TRUST, WILL ALSO BOOST TOURISM IN PUNJAB, SAYS SIDHU