ALIPURDUAR

Cultural centre in Alipurduar

COOCH BEHAR, Dec. 1: The much-awaited cultural centre is coming up at Alipurduar. Construction of the Alipurduar Sanskritik Bikash Kendra began today. Alipurduar Sanskritik Bikash Samiti (ASBS) has been trying for a long to translate the dream of late leaders like Nani Bhattacharya, Gobinda Dey and Rana Sen to reality. The Rs 4.5-crore project is expected to be completed by three years.

 

Secretary of the ASBS and also the local MLA, Mr Nirmal Das said they expect funds from Border Area Development Programme, Uttar Banga Unnayan Parshad, state information and cultural affairs department, backward classes welfare department and Union human resource development ministry to complete the dream project. They started the work today to construct a three-storied building with a fund of Rs 65-lakh already received from the Local Area Development (LAD) funds of MPs and MLAs.

 

The proposed cultural centre will act as a centre to research on the rich culture of ethnic groups of this region. The new building will house a library, a museum, research rooms, a studio and other facilities required for a full-fledged cultural centre. "We are waiting for the past 12 years for this", Mr Das said.

 

Minister of state Mr Manohar Tirkey, Mr Nirmal Das, Mr Dipankar Bandyopadhyay, Mr Sunil Banik, Mr Tarapada Das, and Mr Satyendra Prasad Biswas were among the dignitaries who spoke today at the beginning of the work. []