Barguna Correspondent

South Asia's first boat museum was demolished due to political reason. The first boat museum in South Asia built in Barguna was demolished under the nose of the administration in the presence of BNP leaders and activists.

This museum was built on December 31, 2020, during the Awami League government. At that time, it was named the Bangabandhu Boat Museum. Although the museum was built in the name of Bangabandhu, it housed various types of boats from the thousand-year-old tradition of rural Bengal scattered across the country. The boat museum was attacked in the first phase during the change of the name on August 5, but this time the boat museum was completely demolished.

On Saturday (February 1) from 10 am, the leaders of the local BNP and its affiliates gathered with workers to demolish the Museum.

At that time, BNP leaders and activists said that the then Deputy Commissioner Mostain Billah resorted to widespread irregularities and corruption in its construction. There was also a public library here, which was also demolished. Therefore, the boat museum was demolished due to the public demand of the locals.

Sources said that the main building of the museum was built in the shape of a large boat, 165 -feet long and 30 feet wide, on 78 percent of the land adjacent to the Barguna District Administration Building. The museum houses 100 types of extinct and common boats from different regions of the country. Boats have been used as one of the main vehicles since ancient times in riverine Bangladesh. This boat museum was built to introduce the identity of boats and their thousand-year-old tradition to the new generation. At that time, along with the museum, various institutions including a boat research center, a modern library, a liberation war corner,

rides, theaters, and small cafes for children's entertainment were planned to be built.

On Saturday morning, it was seen that several workers were busy cutting the two ends of the boat museum with gas cylinders in the presence of BNP leaders and activists. At that time, they closed the main entrance of the boat museum. So that no one could enter and take pictures. However, later, the journalists were allowed to take pictures for a short time. The district lawyers' association is on the west side of the boat museum, the district administrator's building and the court building are on the south side, and the district police superintendent's office and the Sadar Thana building are nearby, but everyone played a cold role in making them anonymous.

When the boat museum was being demolished, Barguna district BNP's former organizing secretary Rezbul Kabir, former co-organizing advocate of the central Jubo Dal Muraduzzaman Khan, organizing secretary of the Barguna Jubo Dal Muraduzzaman Tipon, former municipal councilor and BNP leader Aminul Islam Swapan, district Jubo Dal's office secretary Humayun, organizing secretary Arif Hossain, along with leaders and activists of BNP, Jubo Dal, Chhatra Dal and affiliated organizations were present.

BNP leaders and activists said that there was a municipal public library here and this boat museum was built to please the then government. Extortion was done everywhere in Barguna during the construction. They demanded that the Shaheed Zia Municipal Library be established here again.

Tourism entrepreneur Arifur Rahman said that Barguna is a coastal district, and boats surrounded by rivers are our heritage. However, if we thought of the boat museum as a heritage instead of seeing it as a party symbol, we could have kept it. Maybe if the boat museum had been preserved by changing its name, our coastal heritage would have survived.

Barguna District Jubo Dal's organizational secretary Muraduzzaman Tipon said that 10 museums have been collected in the name of the boat museum. Government property has been seized and the boat museum has been built. That is why the people have demolished it.

Advocate Murad Khan, former co-organizer of the central executive committee of the Nationalist Youth Party, said, "The naming of the boat museum as Bangabandhu Boat Museum has created public anger. When the people failed to destroy it with bare hands after setting it on fire on the 5th, they destroyed it with tools. We demand that the Shaheed Zia Memorial Library be built here."

Advocate Rezbul Kabir, former organizational secretary of Barguna District BNP, said, "There was a municipal public library here, which was demolished and the Bangabandhu Boat Museum was built, crores of taka were looted from here. The Bangabandhu Boat Museum was built to profiteer the then government. Now the people are demolishing it. Those who are demolishing it are patriots. An extortion case will be filed against the then Deputy Commissioner and I will be his plaintiff."

When asked about the demolition of the museum, Barguna District Public Policy Forum convener Md. Hasanur Rahman Jhantu said, those who destroyed this boat magician have shown stupidity. History and tradition cannot be erased by destroying something. If the administration is not involved in this, then how can it be destroyed under the nose of the administration? A state asset is being destroyed like this, but the administration is silent. The matter is very sad.

When asked about the destruction of the boat museum, Deputy Commissioner Md. Shafiul Alam said, I have heard that the boat museum has been destroyed. However, it is not under our jurisdiction, but under the jurisdiction of the municipality. I have informed the municipality about this matter. In addition, the police have also been informed.