Keonjhar: The culture department’s attempt to set up a tribal museum on land belonging to the tourism department at Ghatagaon in Keonjhar has led to a controversy.
The tourism department had built a panthashala on the land although there was a proposal to set up a tribal museum there at a cost of Rs 4 crore. As work on the project started, the tourism department opposed it.
The panthashala was set up in 1992 near the shrine of Maa Tarini to provide accommodation to tourists and devotees.
The panthashale is more important for the tourism department as lakhs of devotees are accommodated there. Now the tourism department is planning to expand facilities there.
On the other hand, the district administration had been trying to provide land to the culture department to set up a tribal museum since many years.
The administration preferred to set up the museum at the place instead of acquiring land at other places.
The dispute came to light when the works department issued a letter to the tourism department seeking permission to pull down a pump house on the panthashala’s premises.
The director and special secretary of tourism department, Archana Patnaik, said the tribal museum can’t be set up on the land of the tourism department, and that a letter regarding this had been sent to the Collector.
PNN