City Desk:
The government strictly ordered all quarters to avoid from publishing misleading or factually faulty narratives that causes public harmony break amongst the people.
Drawing on the factual and meticulous re-examination of all records, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said detailed inquiry into the archival records re-confirmed that the house in question never had any relation with the ancestors of the esteemed laureate Satyajit Ray.
The government made the call taking note of certain media reports claiming that the ancestral property of the renowned filmmaker and author Satyajit Ray in Mymensingh originally owned by his grandfather, the distinguished litterateur Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury is being demolished by Bangladeshi authorities, reports UNB.
It was built by a local Zamindar Shashikant Acharya Chowdhury, next to his bungalow house ‘Shashi Lodge’, for his employees.
Upon the abolition of the zamindari system, it came under the control of the government.
The government later allocated it to the Bangladesh ‘Shishu Academy’.
Ever since, the house has been used as the office of the District Shishu Academy, said the Ministry in a media release.
And, the land itself was non-agricultural government (Khas) land and leased to Shishu Academy on a long term basis.
The district authorities have reviewed the land records related to the house and confirmed that as per the past records, the land belongs to the government and have no association with the Ray family whatsoever.
Local senior citizens and respected people from various communities also attested that there is no known historical connection between the Ray family and the house and land currently leased to the Shishu Academy, said the MoFA.
The house is not listed as an archaeological monument, either, said the government.
However, the road in front of the house, ‘Harikishore Ray Road’, is named after Satyajit Ray’s great-grandfather Harikishore Ray, the adoptive parent of Satyajit Ray’s grandfather Upendra Kishor Ray Chowdhury.
The Ray family had a house on Harikishore Ray Road, which they had sold long ago and thus no longer exists.
A multi-storied building was constructed there by the new owner.
The building that is now being demolished was dilapidated, risky and unusable. Since 2014, the Academy had shifted to a rented property elsewhere in Mymensingh city; and the abandoned house became a den for unlawful activities by local anti-social elements.
