Move to turn Rose Garden into museum stuck in PWD red tape

DOT Desk: The work to turn the Rose Garden into a museum has not yet started over five months after the government bought the 19th century palace in Old Dhaka. It has witnessed many historic events, including the first major inaugural meeting of the Awami League, reports The Daily Observer.
The Department of Archaeology Director General Altaf Hossain told a meeting between officials of the department and State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid Babu on Tuesday that the Public Works Department is yet to hand over the papers of the structure.
“The works department says it will set up the museum, but it does not have the requisite experience to build a museum,” he said.
The government on Sept 16 last year bought the palace in Old Dhaka’s Tikatuli for more than Tk 3.31 billion from the incumbent owner of the palace, Laila Raquib.
Laila Raquib is the widow of the palace’s latest owner Kazi Abdur Raquib who inherited the property from his father.
Hindu zamindar Hrishikesh Das built the palace on an around 7.3 acre piece of land in the late 19th century.
Later Khan Bahadur Kazi Abdur Rashid bought it from him in 1936.
Between 1940 and 1960, Rose Garden was well known as a major landmark where all the famous people would mingle and hang out.
It is a registered heritage property of Bangladesh now.
After receiving the ownership transfer documents, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina handed those to the then cultural affairs minister Asaduzzaman Noor.
Later, the government decided to shift the Dhaka City Museum at the Nagar Bhaban to Rose Garden.
State Minister Khalid, who paid a surprise visit to the department after taking charge recently, said he would speak to Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim on the issue.
He also visited the National Archives. Its Director General Dilip Kumar Saha told the state minister that the work to construct a 14-storey building for the Archives is currently on hold following High Court orders.
When the Archives decided not to renew the contract with Prakalpa Upadeshta for alleged irregularities, the construction firm moved the court, which ordered a freeze on the construction of the building, according to Dilip.
The National Archives cannot even shift valuable documents due to the court orders while the construction firm is also neglecting pest control, making the documents vulnerable to pest attack, the director general said.
The state minister then asked him to take money from allocation for the cultural affairs ministry.
The National Archives had sent a proposal for digitisation of its activities to the planning ministry, Dilip told Khalid, adding that the project would be implemented with the ICT Division’s help.