Adil Lateef
Srinagar, May 18: After missing three deadlines of its completion, the new complex of Sri Pratap Singh (SPS) Museum at Lal Mandi here which was slated to be thrown open for the visitors on January 15 is still awaiting inauguration by State Government even as five months have passed.
Miffed over the fact that the new complex of the museum is yet to be inaugurated, the senior officials of Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums wishing anonymity lashed out at the State Government and accused it of “carelessness”. They said that this “carelessness” is resulting in “huge losses” to the Department and also depriving them of showing J&K’s treasurer to people especially tourists.
Police Housing Corporation, the executing agency, started the work on the new complex adjacent to old building of SPS at Lal Mandi in March 2008. The then Government had directed the agency to complete the construction of the building in two years but PHC missed the deadline. The executing agency was again granted two more deadlines in 2012 and 2013 but it missed them too.
Finally in January this year, the agency managed to complete the interior work of the first floor of the new complex and subsequently the employees and officials of Archives, Archaeology and Museums Department started to shift the artifacts from old museum building into new complex and it was expected that the then Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed who had directed the officials to speed up the work, would inaugurate the complex.
However, due to Mufti’s sudden illness followed by demise on January 7, 2016 and subsequent imposition of Governor’s rule, the inaugural ceremony went in limbo. The officials of the Department said after the Mehbooba Mufti-led Government assumed charge of the State they were expecting that the complex would be inaugurated and formally thrown open for the visitors.
“But it has been over a month since the Mehbooba Mufti took over the charge but none of her Ministers including concerned Minister and MoS have visited the complex. On our part we are ready but the government isn’t showing any interest. It is the time when the complex should have been thrown open for the visitors because at present we have thousands of tourists here and our treasure is worth display to them which will also generate income for us,” said the miffed officials.
Pertinently, the new complex with the surface area of one lakh square feet is being built at an estimated cost of over Rs 65 crore with Rs 30.74 crore meant for civil works and Rs 35 crore for its interiors. The interior work of the remaining two floors is, however, yet to be completed.
The old building of SPS Museum was established in 1898 and approximately there are 79, 595 (some of whom have now been shifted to new complex) artifacts and objects covering various subjects like Archaeology, Numismatics, Decorative Art, Arms and Armory, paintings and textiles. However, the building is now in the shambles and after 2014 floods in which around 28 artifacts were damaged, the building was declared unsafe.
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