Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday urging him to allocate funds for renovating Jorasanko Thakurbari, the home of Rabindranath Tagore on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary.

The chief minister has also asked Singh to fund various cultural programmes planned by the state government to celebrate the Nobel laureate’s anniversary.

In his letter, Bhattacharjee stated that the state government has taken several initiatives like organising cultural programmes, exhibitions, seminars, rebuilding of Nirmala Ghat and renovation of Jorasanko Thakurbari that currently houses Rabindra Bharati University.

“It has been learnt that UNESCO will celebrate Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary and may be willing to get involved as a mark of respect. The Government of India may also request UNESCO for extending their support in the process,” the letter stated.

The authorities of Rabindra Bharati University, meanwhile, said that the university is renovating the Thakurbari and gearing up for the celebrations.

“We have undertaken the Rs 15 crore project for renovating Jorasanko Thakurbari. We have started with the university funds and we are looking forward for more funds,” said Suranjan Bhattacharya , the spokesperson of the university.

To preserve Jorasanko Thakurbari, where Tagore was born and had spent most of his time, the university shifted all its academic departments to its campus on B T Road in 2007. The building now houses a museum.

The university is also planning to set up an archive of Bengali songs of the likes of legendary singers like Manna De, Sunil Chowdhury and Sandhya Mukherjee.