Hasina orders evacuation of heritage building for museum

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<strong>Sumi Khan</strong></p>
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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has ordered the evacuation of a 150-year-old heritage building in Chittagong which was once the law chamber of freedom fighter Jatindra Mohan Sengupta and his father advocate Jatra Mohon Sengupta, to be converted into a museum.</p>
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Following the Prime Minister's demand, Chittagong district authorities have evacuated the building and installed a signboard with an order issued on 6 January by the Supreme Court of Bangladesh that the site is to be conserved for a museum, Advocate Rana Dasgupta told IANS on Saturday.</p>
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Welcoming the move, Dasgupta said it was victory of the movement of the people of Chittagong.</p>
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"We are happy that the Prime Minister herself handled this issue with a plan to secure the heritage as a museum. We hope the local administration will accelerate implementing the order," he added.</p>
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Since January 5, several sit-in programmes were held in front of the heritage structure urging the government to take steps.</p>
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But over the last two weeks, miscreants have stayed at the building and burned the doors, local residents told IANS.</p>
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Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindrath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Bose and other the legendary leaders met Jatindra Mohan Sengupta and his father advocate Jatra Mohon Sengupta at their law chamber.</p>
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"Anti-British revolutionaries led by 'Master da' Surya Sen in 1930 and afterwards to raid a British arsenal, but we couldn't protect the historical house from the land grabbers for last 50 years," Dasgupta told IANS.</p>
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"At last prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself rescued the house, which is partly damaged by the hooligans already."</p>
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On January 6, Dasgupta had submitted a memorandum to the administrator of Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) urging the government for necessary steps to turn the house into a museum in order to preserve the memory of anti-British movement heroes.</p>
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Officials of CTG district administration deployed law enforcers around the house, complying with a High Court order asking the authority to protect the historically important structure and heritage of Chittagong.</p>
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Mohammad Mominur Rahman, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of CTG district administration, told IANS that he deployed 10 officials of the Armed Police Battalion (APBN), a specialised unit of the Bangladesh Police, to take care of the heritage structure in light of the High Court order.</p>
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Earlier in the month, a land grabber named Farid Chowdhury had taken over the heritage house bulldozed and demolished the wood-worked front part with a group of armed hooligans based on a court order.</p>
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Following the incident, Dasgupta along with a group of social, cultural and history conservationists tried to stop further demolition.</p>
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The hooligans withdrew the bulldozer, but remained there for the last 18 days.</p>
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The Cultural Ministry at a meeting held on July 17, 2018, had ordered to the district authority of Chittagong to conserve all the heritage buildings, both Advocate Rana Dasgupta and Mominur told IANS.</p>
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Cultural, social and historical building conservationists of Chittagong hailed the move by the district administration urging them to turn the structures into a museum.</p>
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