A 1.5km tunnel to join Bihar and Patna museums

PATNA: The state government plans to build a 1.5km tunnel to connect the two windows to Bihar’s glorious past — the Patna Museum and the Bihar Museum.
To be built at a cost of Rs 150 crore, the tunnel itself will be an art gallery of sorts showcasing the state’s culture through artwork such as Madhubani paintings.
“People will get a glimpse of the state’s culture through various artworks on the walls of the proposed tunnel while moving from one museum to another through the tunnel,” the chairman of Bihar Museum Advisory Council, Anjani Kumar Singh, told TOI.
Anjani, who is also the advisor (policy and programme implementation) to CM, said, “We will use a non-polluting mode of travel inside the tunnel. However, a final decision has not been taken on it yet. We will also ensure security and safety of visitors inside the tunnel.”
The proposals were discussed at a meeting earlier this month to review projects being helmed by the art, culture and youth affairs department under the chairmanship of CM Nitish Kumar.
“The idea is to enable people visit both museums with one ticket without having to take a detour. At present, if a person is at Patna Museum, he or she can buy a Rs 100 ticket to visit both museum. But the visitor has to travel the 1.5km distance by road to reach the other museum. The tunnel will make access to both museums hassle free,” Anjani said.
Currently, around 1,500 people visit the Bihar Museum daily and their numbers double during the weekends. Patna museum has a larger footfall with 7,000 to 8000 visitors coming daily.
Bihar Museum is a state-of-the-art “experience museum” with collections on contemporary art, Bihar’s diaspora, a gallery for children, along with numerous artefacts. It also organises various programmes on art, photography and music. “Visitors also get a taste of Bihari cuisine at the in-house restaurant,” said Anjani.
Rs 180 crore facelift for Patna Museum: The state government has also decided to expand the Patna Museum to set up new galleries as well as redesign the existing ones.
The extension and redevelopment of the museum will be done at an estimated cost of Rs 181 crore, officials said, adding a private firm has been hired for making the detailed project report for the museum’s extension and facelift.
“The portion behind the museum building is in a bad shape and it needs to be redeveloped. The state government will sanction Rs 181 crore for this project. Both museums in Patna are the pride of Bihar and we are taking steps to maintain them,” art, culture and youth affairs minister Pamod Kumar said.
“The new galleries will have two sabhagars (meeting halls) dedicated to Dr Rajendra Prasad and socialist icon Jaya Prakash Narayan,” Kumar added.
Sources said Patna Museum’s extension will give a new lease of life to the artefacts that are lying in storage for years due to space crunch. Visitors will get to see these never-before-seen items.
Ravi Parmar, principal secretary of the department, “We need more space to showcase such cultural and historical artefacts. The state government has held two-three meetings with the executives of the private firm, which has been selected to work on the DPR of redevelopment and extension of Patna museum.”
“The department is going to hold another round of meeting with consultant firm in next 10 days, and hopefully the design will be selected,” Parmar added.