Call to Preserve the Ancestral Home of a Legend

Screen legend Suchitra Sen turned 80 on April 6. She was born at her maternal grandfather's residence at the Bhangabari village, in Pabna. Sen grew up at Gopalpur in Pabna town. Unfortunately the ancestral home of the legendary actress in Pabna town is still occupied by Imam Gazzali Institute, despite the popular resentment. People of the district want the historic site to be freed from unjustified occupation and restored.
Sen, whose original name was Rama Dasgupta, started her academic career at Mahakali Pathshala in Pabna town. Later she studied at Pabna Girls School (now Pabna Govt. Girls High School).
According to the elderly of the district, Sen's father Karunamoy Dasgupta left Pabna with his whole family just before the Partition (in 1947).
“Suchitra Sen is the pride of Pabna. Her ancestral home certainly qualifies as a historical establishment. It is very unfortunate that her ancestral residence has been occupied,” Md. Saidul Haque Chunnu, convener of Suchitra Sen Memory Preservation Committee, Pabna said. The occupiers, in shield of law, are continuing the occupation due to the lack of administrative action, Chunnu said.
When asked, the additional deputy commissioner (Revenue) Md. Sajedul Islam said, Pabna district administration served a notice to Imam Gazzali Institute in 2009 to leave the property. The occupiers then filed a case. The matter is hanging in the court, he said.
The cultural activists of Pabna town observed the screen diva's birth anniversary with much gusto. “The cultural activists of Pabna demand an archive at Suchitra Sen's ancestral house. But the house is still occupied,” Mostafizur Rahman Russell, secretary of Pabna Drama circle, said.