post news network, Bhubaneswar, May 22: There is a sculpture garden and near it there is a children’s park in the Orissa State Museum. One goes there to spend quality time with friends and family members. But sadly the park is in a sorry state, with weeds growing everywhere. The parents, as a result, do not allow their kids to play there. Though meant for the children, one can only see young couples in the park.
Kalika, the children’s park at the State Museum, was inaugurated on February 27, 2007, by the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in the presence of the then culture minister Surya Narayan Patro, ex-chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy, ex-director general of the national museum Dr AKVS Reddy, ex- superintendent of the museum Dr CB Patel and other dignitaries.
All sorts of games like swing, see-saw, slides, etc. are there, but those are in bad condition. Even the sculpture garden is not maintained properly as one can see the base of some of the statues broken, and the inscriptions on some of the statues erased, making it difficult for the visitors to know about those statues. Most of the concrete chairs in the sculpture garden and the park are in a broken state and the fountain in the park doesn’t work.
When the Orissa POST asked the curator of the museum, Sachismita Mantry about the maintenance of the children’s park and the sculpture garden, she said, “I don’t have the authority to speak regarding the matter. Moreover, we have been strictly advised by our senior officials not to speak about all these with the media persons. Better ask the superintendent of the museum.”
When this reporter called on the superintendent of the state museum, Jayanti Rath, to inquire about the matter, she refused to say anything. “I don’t know anything about it and I am not in a position to say anything right now.”
“I often bring my children to the museum during the holidays as they are much more curious to know about the history of the state. The state museum is one of the best places in the city, but it’s sad that it is not being maintained properly. The children’s park is there, but it is in a pathetic condition with weeds all around. It is hardly maintained by the museum authorities. I have been to museums in other states and they are mostly well maintained, and here it seems that they hardly give any importance to the maintenance,” said Sanjeev Patra, a software engineer, who often visits the museum.
There are around 60 parks in the city and recently it was announced that 21 more new parks would come up in some of the prominent places like Niladri Vihar, Sahid Nagar, Nayapalli etc. Around rupees one crore has been spent annually for the maintenance of these 60 parks for which 150 workers are engaged.
The State Museum is one of the most popular destinations among tourists who want to enjoy a date with history of the state and spend some quality time with friends and family there. Every year the culture department during the International Museum Day talks about the development of the museum, but it seems they are unmindful about the proper upkeep of some of the facilities there.