Bengal govt pledges support, Nehru Children’s Museum to stay open
Times of India | 6 August 2026
Kolkata: The 53-year-old Nehru Children’s Museum will not be closed down and state govt will provide all necessary help to keep the institution running, chief minister’s adviser Subrata Gupta told the museum’s director Sudip Srimal on Wednesday during their interaction at the state secretariat.
Srimal got a call from CMO on Tuesday and was requested to attend a meeting with Gupta at the state secretariat to find a way to prevent closure of the unique museum.
Srimal on July 16 wrote to minister Agnimitra Paul saying the organisation could not afford the Rs 50 lakh upgrade of the fire safety norms. He also wrote to CM Suvendu Adhikari and his cabinet colleagues and Samik Bhattacharya, seeking their intervention and urging govt to take over the museum so that the legacy lives on. The management had said the museum would close from Aug 16 if no help came in and the classes have been suspended keeping in mind the safety of 900 children.
“I had come [with the proposal] that the state govt should take over Nehru Children’s Museum, and a request was made to the govt. In response, CM’s adviser Subrata Gupta said that the museum is a heritage of Bengal and it should not be closed down. He also told us that the govt cannot take over the museum and asked us to keep the museum running just the way we were running it for the past 53 years. Gupta told us that the govt will help with whatever needs to be done. He also called up the DG Fire & Emergency Services and told him to do the needful. We have been told that the govt will bear the cost of the upgrade,” said Srimal after the one-hour-long meeting with Gupta.
The director shared that since they have got “support and assurance” from govt, the museum will not close from Aug. “The museum will remain open and the classes will resume from Sept,” Srimal said.
“He told us to modernize the museum. We told him that the entry ticket is Rs 20 for adults, Rs 10 for kids and Rs 5 if schools bring them. He felt that it is very cheap and advised us to increase the ticket price. He also suggested that we open a cafeteria and induct some important personalities in the committee. He said that he will try to arrange CSR funds to upgrade the museum,” said Srimal.
To persuade govt to take over the museum, Srimal in his letter proposed to dedicate a floor to Uttam Kumar, another to actor Anupam Kher to start a training academy and a third to highlight Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s contributions and suggested alternative names for the museum. “But he said that Nehru’s name should be retained as it is an iconic project with an iconic name,” Srimal said.
The museum was established by National Cultural Association on Nov 14, 1972, to pay homage to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The museum was visualised and conceptualised by Jugal Srimal, who was the founder-director of the museum. It houses the epic stories of Ramayana and Mahabharata in clay mode. It also has a Ganesh gallery with over 300 Ganesh idols and over 1,100 costume dolls from 96 countries. It runs classes in dance, painting, recitation, drama for 900 children and gives financial assistance of Rs 2,400 to 265 children with disabilities.