Sorry state of Ctg museums

Lack of publicity and poor collections have made the city museums so unattractive that they are unlikely to allure a good number of visitors even on the World Museum Day to be observed worldwide today.

The port city has a very few recreational places for its six million people, but there are four museums here -- the Ethnological Museum in Agrabad, Zia Memorial Museum in Kazir Dewry, Railway Museum in Pahartali and the Tax Archive at the Agrabad CGO Building.

The first two museums are run by the cultural affairs ministry, the Railway Museum by the railway authorities and the Tax Archive is privately run by some government tax officials.

The largest of these four is the Ethnological Museum in Agrabad which was founded in 1965. It currently displays artefacts used by 27 ethnic groups.

“No new collection has hit the museum for a long time. I have been to the museum many times and there is nothing new for me,” said Nazmul Hasan, a student of Government Commerce College.

Abu Bakkar Siddiqi, research assistant of the museum, said they are trying to collect new artefacts including the ones from almost extinct tribes like Mandai and Lusai ethnic groups.

“We have already collected some artefacts. Currently, renovation work is going on. We would display those items once the works are done,” he said.

A poorly lit room at the Tax Archives in Chittagong city. Today is the International Museum Day. Photo: Star

Siddiqi said the number of visitors is still increasing, adding, 26,522 people visited the museum between October 2015 and March 2016. The number was 21,522 during the corresponding period a year earlier, he added.

He however admitted that visitors' presence would have been much higher if new artefacts were displayed with regular publicity about the museum.

The condition of Zia Memorial Museum, established in 1993, is even worse. It was set up on a 3.17-acre piece of land in a colonial period building known as the Old Circuit House. People hardly come across the museum as it is situated quite inside a road from the Kazir Dewry intersection.

The museum displays different things belonging to late president Ziaur Rahman, who was assassinated in that building in 1981.

Among other items, the museum displays the transmitter and microphone of the historic Kalurghat radio transmission centre.

The museum which charges Tk 20 for entrance had 1.15 lakh visitors in 2012, 1.21 lakh in 2013-2014 and 1.27 lakh in 2014-15.

Motiur Rahman, deputy keeper of the museum, thinks this year the number of visitors would decline.

“We applied for a budget of Tk 46 lakh for renovation of the museum in 2014-15 and 2015-16, but it was not approved. If done, the renovation would have attracted more visitors,” he said.

The Tax Archive at the government office building in Agrabad of Chittagong displays more than 100 items including important documents of historic importance relating to tax. It has different documents of the East India Company.

Syed Mohammad Abu Daud, additional commissioner of taxes who established the museum in 2014,said, “We have established the museum to give people an opportunity to have a look at the rich history of tax in the Indian Sub-Continent.”

The Railway Museum at Pahartali that shows different equipment and historic railway artefacts was found closed. Younus Sikdar, a railway guard, said it would remain closed for the rest of the year due to renovation work.