CUTTACK: The state government’s move to develop the birthplace of Utkal Gaurav Madhusudan Das (Madhu Babu) has hit a stumbling block with the district administration struggling to shift a Child Care Institute and acquire his homestead land for the purpose.
5T secretary VK Pandian during his visit to Madhu Babu’s birthplace on April 1, had held discussions with locals on the development of the proposed museum. Following the visit, officials announced the great reformer’s birth and workplace would be developed into a single museum complex for the preservation of the heritage site.
Accordingly, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of RDC (Central Division) Suresh Chandra Dalai on April 10 where different plans were sketched for the all-round development of Madhu Babu’s birthplace. The administration had held discussions with office bearers of NGOs- Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Madhu Smruiti Committee and Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust (KGNMT) for handing over Madhu Babu’s homestead land including his ancestral house possessed by them, to the state government.
The administration had assured provisioning of the land and construction of a building for shifting an orphanage (Child Care Institute) housing 40 orphan girls within the age group of seven, running from Madhu Babu’s ancestral house.
However, without initiating steps for the institute’s relocation and rehabilitation, Cuttack Suresh Chandra Dalei issued a letter to KGNMT on April 29 this year instructing it to vacate it within seven leaving not only the office bearers of the NGO but also the inmates in the lurch.
The office bearers of KGNMT had replied they would not be able to vacate the orphanage till the provisioning of the required land and construction of a building at Satyabhamapur for the inmates who are enrolled in nearby schools. Sources said, revenue officials are facing difficulties in arranging around six-acre land in Satyabhamapur to hand it over to the three NGOs in order to acquire the homestead land of Madhu Babu.
While efforts to elicit a response from both the RDC and collector on the issue proved futile, Salepur tehsildar Siba Mallik said the required land is yet to be identified for exchange even as the necessary measurement of Madhu Babu’s homestead land is over.
The state government had declared Madhu Babu’s birthplace at Satyabhamapur in Salepur block as a tourist spot in 2016 following which the Tourism department constructed a four-room museum on the premises at a cost of Rs 1.62 crore in 2020.
The museum inaugurated by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik virtually on April 28, 2022, was handed over to the Culture Department. At present, the museum houses copies of some photographs that have been preserved by the NGOs inside the Entudi Shala, a straw-thatched house where Madhu Babu was born.
“If the government is unable to bring back Madhu Babu’s articles of daily use preserved in the Madhu Smruti on the premises of Shailabala Women’s Autonomous College and state museum, then they can showcased in the newly constructed museum at his birthplace,” said some locals.