George Orwell museum in Bihar

Millennium writer George Orwell’s birth place at Motihari in Bihar’s East Champaran district will soon be turned into a full-fledged museum. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Orwell’s birth place, the decrepit two-room house on the old opium campus will be preserved for tourists.

The Bihar Government had earlier decided to declare the house as a ‘Protected Site’. Nitish Kumar said he has asked the arts and culture department officials to prepare a restoration and development project of the seven-acre campus of the opium warehouse where Eric Arthur Blair, popularly known as George Orwell, was born in 1903.

His father Richard W Blair worked for the opium department during the British rule. Orwell was taken to England by his mother Ida when he was one-year-old after which he went on to pen one of last century’s best dystopian novels 1984 and Animal Farm.

"The house is in a dilapidated condition. The state government’s priority is to protect the building and other development works would follow later," art and culture department officials said.

A detailed report about the history of the house, its present condition and land records had been sought from the district administration. A team of experts would be sent to Motihari to assess the situation from archaeological point of view, they said.

The department would initiate the process of declaring Orwell’s house a Protected Site in accordance with the provisions of the Bihar Ancient Monument (Protection) Act of 1976. — PTI

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