Leader off Opposition Ami Ravat on Friday demand to remove increase in entry fees of Baroda museum. She visited the museum and picture gallery and later gives an application with a demand to reduce the hike in ticket fees. She said the government is only interested in collecting money in the name of corona and kept aside the purpose for which the historical building is made by the rulers.
She said, the rates of entry fee for Museum have been increased by 10 folds from Rs 10 per person to Rs 100 per person and Rs 250 per person for foreigners. Initially it was Rs 5 for school students for all over Gujarat on weekdays and absolutely free on weekends the same clause has also been removed.
This hike of 10 folds (900%) is unprecedented and removing all subsidies will make it impossible for students to visit museum for educational purpose, a family of five will have to shell out Rs 500 to visit museum which will discourage poor parents to expose their children to rich heritage. Hence we demand that this increase should be removed immediately, added Ravat.
She said that the gift from the Royal king was not understood and government is injustice to the students by increasing the fees by 900 percent. The museum was built by the great king of Vadodara, who sold his jewelery and created the first museum in the country by bringing expensive historical objects during his travels abroad. The huge collection thus collected was opened to the public in 1894 in the newly constructed large building of the museum and wanted to promote freedom of thought and learning through this medium. The main objective of which is to promote education. The museum has a library of rare 15,000 books on art, history, archeology and Indian culture.
This museum caters to the needs of an educational institution or university. About seven lakh visitors visit this museum annually. It is the first museum in India to start a course in museum science in 1952 ans the entire department was opened by starting a course in Archeology and Mythological History in the University in 1956.
The fee for this museum, which was set up for students of Gujarat from all over the country for education and knowledge of history, was only 10 rupees for students and free admission for students on every Saturday and Sunday of the week. Every educational institutions visit here as it is of utmost importance for study. We demand to withdraw the increased fee for students and the public.
