Humla museum in a state of decay

By Our Correspondent,Humla, Feb. 11: The building of the museum in Humla district, which was built to keep the traditional objects, is now in a dilapidated condition, even before it came into operation.   

Bhim Raj Shahi, former ward chair of Kharpunath Rural Municipality- 5, said that the museum building was constructed to preserve the traditional ornaments, old-fashioned construction materials, among other objects of significance, for next generation. “But, it is sad that the museum’s building has been in poor condition before it was brought into operation,” he said. Now, the museum lies neglected.

Shahi has also provided some archaic things to keep in the museum. 

“The old and traditional things collected from around the areas could not be kept in the museum. The then District Development Committee had built the museum in 2016,” he said. 

The Tourism Department of the then District Development Committee (DDC) had set up the museum in a rented house at the wetland area in Simkot, the district headquarters, and had stored traditional objects.    

Rabi Bhattarai, then Local Development Officer, had managed to allocate budget from the DDC for the construction of the museum. 

The building was constructed at a cost of over Rs. 1.5 million. The building is ready but the objects housed in the rented building have not been shifted in it. The doors and windows of the building have broken and a wall has collapsed.   

The old local ornaments, wooden items, costumes, clay pots and more than 200 types of other objects are left unattended in the rented house.  

Chief Accountant of Simkot Rural Municipality Bishal Bohara, who has been taking care of the museum, said that the building has been in an abandoned condition. 

He further said that the collected objects were in a state of decay for lack of preservation efforts.  

The only museum of the district would help promote tourism if the District Coordination Committee handed over the responsibility of the museum to the rural municipality or Wetland Area Conservation Committee, he said. 

The District Coordination Committee was requested to hand over the responsibility of the museum to Simkot Rural Municipality, but they declined, he said.