The former Mussoorie house of British surveyor and geographer George Everest will be converted into a cartography museum by the Uttarakhand government.
Everest was the former Surveyor General of India and the person after whom the highest peak in the world is named.
Built in 1832, the colonial-era mansion is located around six kilometre away from Gandhi Chowk in Mussoorie. It is being renovated as a tourist spot and will host a museum which will display maps, instruments, journals and various other items which were used by Everest who had headed the Great Trigonometry Survey of India during the Raj era.
The museum will house his surveying instruments including theodolites, baseline bars, and more. According to state tourism secretary Dilip Jawalkar, it will be set up at a cost of Rs 24 crore, after an MoU is signed with the Survey of India.
Jawalkar is also of the view that once completed, the project will be a source of employment for locals. The department is constructing eco-friendly log huts, mobile toilets, food vans, an open theatre and approach road, and a heritage track in the area for tourists.
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