Toshkhana in common parlance means a treasure house. A fire of mysterious nature broke out in Toshkhana inside the famous historic Mubarak Mandi comlex in December 2006. Mubarak Mandi complex was the royal residence of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir till 1925. Following the blaze, the valuable articles, gold, silver etc were transferred from the Toshkhana to a Strongroom in the Civil Secretariat, Jammu. Only the armoury which the Dogra rulers were using, was left in the Toshkhana.
There is a row erupted over the whereabouts of the keys of this treasure container or House. Displeasure over the issue was expressed recently by a joint House Committee of Legislature over contradictory statements of the fate of the keys. Are they “misplaced”, or lodged with the designated court and not “lost” needs clarification. Action under rules must be taken against the officials in charge of the entire issue for not clarifying exactly where the matter stood preceded by fixing responsibility.
The matter is utmost important and needs expeditious disposal by way of firstly, knowing actual status of keys; secondly, as to why and for what purpose was the whereabouts of the keys made to be heard on the grapevine; thirdly, whether any sort of malfeasance was to be ruled out completely and finally- proper verifications and tallying item wise with its inventory book must be carried out. More of it will be known on May 14 when the Committee meets again.
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