Churulia, the birthplace of Bengal’s rebel poet Kazi Nazrul Islam soon will have a facelift and the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee today asked the tourism department to shoulder the responsibility.
Banerjee had inaugurated Kazi Nazrul University in 2012 in Asansol. But, Churulia remained unnoticed for so long. Today, at the chief minister’s administrative review meeting, the vice-chancellor of the KNU, Dr Sadhan Chakraborty pleaded for a heritage tag for Churulia. He said, “This year, for the first time, KNU observed three days of Nazrul Mela at Churulia. Now, we want Churulia village to be declared as a heritage site and the state Heritage Commission should look into this.” The chief minister however preferred to choose the state tourism department for the facelift of the village. She said, “Churulia is a very small village, surrounded by two small hillocks and I’d been there.” She added, “I don’t think the Heritage Commission will be able to manage the task. Let the tourism department take the responsibility.” She also asked the KNU to supervise the entire proposed work at the village.
Kazi Nazrul Islam was born at the village on 24 May, 1899. The local residents had erected Churulia Nazrul Academy on the piece of the poet’s ancestral homestead property in 1958.