KHULNA, MAY 6, 2019(BSS) – Visitors and Rabindra lovers demanded
immediate excavation on the ancestral house of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath
Tagore located at Pithabhog village under Rupsha upazila of the district.
“The government made a gazette notification on the ancestral house of
Tagore as preserved archeological site in favour of the Department of
Archeology, so why it will not be excavated?” questioned F M Salam, Principal
of Rupsha College .
He also demanded for turning the house as ‘Rabindra Smirity
Sangrahashala or a museum.
Sonia Ahmed, an artist in city’s Khanjahan Ali Road area, while visiting
the area on Thursday, demanded for setting up Rabindra Complex and a research
centre at the ancestral house of Kabiguru.
On April 28 in 2011, archeologists tracked down the ancestral home of
Tagore at Pithabhog village ahead of the 150 birth anniversary celebration of
the noble laureate.
An archeology department team carried out initial experimental excavation
on the ancestral house of the great Bangali poet.
After excavating only three to four feet soil, archeology team found the
layout of an estimated 30 feet by 20 feet building that once accommodated the
poet’s forefathers.
The then Regional Director of the Department of Archeology Shihab Uddin
Mohammad Akbar sent a proposal to the cultural ministry to set up a Rabindra
Smrity Sangrahashala at the site.
Director of Khulna Archeology Department Aforoza Mita said a total of
0.15 acres of land were mentioned in the site gazette in favour of the
Departmet of Archeology on March 15 in 2015, but it did not come under the
possession of the ministry so far.
“We have already sent a proposal to the Cultural Affair Ministry for
requisition of land and handed over` RS Khatian` of the land to the Deputy
Commissioner of Khulna,” she said.
Archeologists believe that the ancestral house of the poet was owned by
Jagannath Kushari, the 14th forefathers of the great poet who was also
jamindar of the area.