Prime Minister to inaugurate ASI museum in Odisha

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate an archaeological museum in Lalitgiri, Odisha during his visit to the state scheduled for next week, Minister of Culture Mahesh Sharma said on Thursday.

"The Archaeological Museum, Lalitgiri, is sure to add more charm to tourism in the region and increase the immense potential of employment generation," Sharma said at a press conference held here. Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan also accompanied him.

Built by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the museum aims to protect and preserve retrieved antiquities. The government has spent Rs 10 crore on constructing the museum, spread over an area of 4,750 sq.m.

ASI Director General Usha Sharma said that the most important finds in Lalitgiri are relic caskets found inside the stupa during excavations in 1985. Three Khondalite stone caskets were found, of which two have one set of steatite, silver and gold caskets each with the relics inside in the form of charred bones.

Modi will release the commemorative coin and postage stamp in memory of the Paika Rebellion at a function to be held on the IIT-Bhubaneswar campus, Sharma said.

"The Centre has decided to set up a chair in the memory of the event in Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, at a cost of Rs 5 crore. The money will be released to the university as a corpus fund to be kept in an escrow account. Expenses of the chair will be met out of the interest earned on the corpus fund," he said.

--IANS

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