Ludhiana | Museum of Social History of Rural Punjab at PAU to get facelift

On the occasion of World Tourism Day, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Sanjeev Arora on Tuesday inaugurated a project to renovate the Museum of Social History of Rural Punjab at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

Besides, commissioner of police (CP) Kaustubh Sharma, joint CP Narinder Bhargav, PAU vice-chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal, teaching faculty of PAU, and officials from the district administration were present during the occasion.

City-based advocate Harpreet Singh Sandhu, in collaboration with PAU, released a documentary, filmed by him depicting the Museum of Social History of Rural Punjab.

Besides the museum, the rock garden in the campus will be revamped as well.

History of museum

The foundation stone of the museum was laid on March 1,1971 by the then PAU V-C MS Randhawa. It was then inaugurated by prominent writer Khushwant Singh in 1974.

Sandeep Bains, dean, College of Community Science, said, “ The museum is built in an old-style architecture to look like a respectable house of the 18th century. PAU is the only university in India to have a museum like this.”

Stating that the museum showcases the rich cultural heritage of Punjab, she said the university will highly acknowledge the contribution people make in this regard.

Year on, no clue of the theft

It has been over an year since the thieves had struck at the museum and decamped with 141 items of 39 different types from the museum. Among the stolen items are 12 brass bells of three different sizes, brass utensils and traditional jewellery.

Police said burglars had stolen 52 items from room 1, 47 items from room 2, 12 items from room 5, four items from room 6 and 26 items from the phulkari section.

The theft had taken place when the varsity was closed for outsiders and entry was allowed only from one point, gate number 4. PAU officials had found out about the theft on April 19, 2021 when the varsity reopened and had filed a complaint on April 21, 2021.