The current sad state of affairs regarding State Departments like Archives, Archaeology etc taking “care” of the rich culture, historical glory, antiques and the like of our State must invite the attention of the Government.
Any institution, department or entity cannot function properly without a reasonable number of staff members and in particular, its Head , in the absence of which the performance is undermined and expected results never obtained. The importance and the utility of the departments under reference need hardly to be stressed upon. How can the Department run with a staff shortage of more than 40 percent ?
The Director’s post is not filled, 13 gazetted posts, one Deputy Director, one Assistant Director and other officers out of the total number of 17 are lying vacant. More about the affairs are explicit in not detailing them out but due to these reasons, the department is totally appearing to be “defunct”.
Department of State Archives failed to take over the historical objects that were excavated by Archeological Survey of India from Burzuhama site in Srinagar, again, due to severe staff crunch. Moreover, no further excavation could take place in other important sites. Letpora in Pulwama and Kutubal in Anantnag have lot of potential to have site museums but after the 2004 excavations, these sites are yet to be declared as protected monuments. The State Government is urged to invigorate and virtually revive the Departments under reference.
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