Soon, museum to depict state Assembly's history

Kolkata: A museum depicting the history of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly will come up inside the premises of the state Assembly. The foundation stone of the proposed museum is likely to be laid down by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during the Assembly session that begins from November 20. "The contribution of Bengal in the Indian freedom struggle has been immense. However, there is no museum in the state that portrays the history of the freedom struggle in a comprehensive way. This will be the focus of the proposed museum. There is a lot of vacant land in the Assembly premises and we have already identified the site," a senior official of the state legislative Assembly said.

It is learnt that in the proposed five-storeyed building in which the museum will be housed, there will be an auditorium with state-of-the-art facilities. "When representatives from other parts of the state comes for a visit here, they often say why we do not have an auditorium. There is such infrastructure in most of the legislative Assemblies across the country. "We are often crammed for space and have to house seminars inside the space where the session is held," the official said. There is a rich history connected with the Assembly and at present, there are 295 members, which includes 294 members directly elected from single-seat constituencies and one nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. Its term is five years, unless sooner dissolved.

The history of the West Bengal Legislature can be traced back to January 18, 1862 when under the Indian Councils Act of 1861, a 12-Member Legislative Council for Bengal Presidency was established by the Governor-General of British India with the Lt Governor of Bengal and some nominated members. The strength of the Council was gradually enlarged by subsequent acts. On March 21, 1969, a resolution was passed by the Bengal Legislative Assembly for the abolition of the Legislative Council. Subsequently, Indian Parliament passed the West Bengal Legislative Council (Abolition) Act, 1969 abolishing the Legislative Council with effect from August 1, 1969.