Mamata Banerjee lays foundation stone for Rabindra Museum

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday laid the foundation stone of a Rabindra Museum near Howrah station in West Bengal.

"Rabindra Museum will display the entire educational aspects of the great poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. His works including poems, paintings will be exhibited in the museum," she said, adding the museum will come up at an estimated cost of Rs32 lakh.

"An auditorium with a capacity of 500 seats will be constructed within the museum and a research academy for culture will be set up there," she said.

"The research academy would provide better opportunity to the scholars working on Tagore in continuing their research work," Banerjee added.

The railway minister further said that the Rabindra Museum will be modelled according to the structure of Tagore's house in Jorasanko in the city.

"The project announced in railway budget has already been sanctioned by the finance ministry and it will come up very soon. Besides Rabindra Museum, another museum showcasing the works and aspects of the great poet will come up at Bolpur station near Santiniketan in Birbhum district shortly," Mamata said.

The museum at Bolpur will be christened 'Geetanjali'.

While addressing in the foundation stone laying programme, the railway minister also announced that at least 75 pairs of Puja special trains will be run by the railways this year to meet the demand.