Kolkata: State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim on Saturday inaugurated the shifting of several artefacts from Kolkata Police museum to the Independence Museum at Alipore.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal and Debashis Sen, Managing Director of West Bengal Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (Hidco) that has executed the Independence Museum were present on the occasion.
Artefacts belonging to the pre-Independence period that were housed in the Police Museum have been shifted to the Alipore museum, inaugurated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on September 23, 2022 ahead of the Durga Puja.
“There have been attempts by a political party to distort history. But our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is always trying her best to conserve the history and the cultural heritage of Bengal. If we do not know history, we will be suffering from an identity crisis. So, she conceived this museum soon after the Alipore Central Correctional Home was shifted to Baruipur. This museum will remind the present generation as well as the future generation of the struggles of our freedom fighters to make India independent,” Hakim said.
Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal said that Kolkata Police Museum had started its journey at Manicktala in North Kolkata from the campus of the office of Deputy Commissioner North division in 1996. The museum was expanded further in 2007.
“However, when the Independence Museum was opened, Debashis Sen proposed shifting our museum here, considering the good footfall. The role of the Kolkata Police during the freedom struggle has been depicted through the museum, so we want more people to know about the history. We hope to add more value by bringing more artefacts here and we are holding discussions on this,” Goyal said.
Sen said that nearly 3 lakh people have visited the Independence Museum since its inception.
On January 1, this year over 16,000 people visited the museum which has been the highest single-day footfall so far.