CHANDIGARH: A state-of-the-art museum will come up at Panchkula in Haryana at a cost of around Rs 30 crore to display significant archeological findings.
The Haryana government will also set-up another museum at Rakhigarhi village in Hisar district at an estimated cost of Rs 5 crore to be built over five acres land donated by the village panchayat, showcasing various items excavated from what was once a Harappan site, Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma, who also holds the portfolio of Archaeology, said at a press conference here today.
While the work to set-up the museum at Panchkula would commence within next 3 to 4 months, the work on museum at Rakhigarhi would be taken up within a month, the minister said.
He said that the excavations would be displayed in the museums in such a manner that even common people would be able to easily understand their significance and cultural heritage.
"Also, these museums would become the centre of attraction for tourists," he said.
The minister said that the archeologists are of the view that Rakhigarhi would have been the biggest township of India during Indus Civilisation.
Additional Chief Secretary, Archeology Vijai Vardhan and Secretary and Director General, Archaeology and Museums Department Ashok Khemka, were also present in the conference.
Earlier this year, four human skeletons dating back to the Harappan era had been recovered from a cemetery located at Rakhigarhi village, about 150 km from Delhi.
Elaborating on the excavations, Vardhan said it indicated the kind of life people led at that time, adding, they also revealed that there used to be drains along streets and roads in addition to houses.
"Sense of hygiene and cleanliness was high on priority among those people," Vardhan said.
The excavations also include utensils, and images of ox, cow and buffaloes and ornaments made of stones, stone statues and weapons made of bones.
"An important seal of Rakhigarhi depicts a composite figure of a man, bull, unicorn, elephant and a tiger. A rare seal of tiger excavated at the site could become the logo of the proposed museum to be set up at Rakhigarhi," he said.