Construction of new Sri Pratap Singh Museum (SPS Museum) in Srinagar is another example of abject lack of responsibility and sincerity on the part of concerned authorities. Eight years ago, foundation stone was laid for the new museum building. It has not reached completion yet. The old SPS Museum was founded in 1898. It grew with the passage of time and housed many rich and rare artifacts and objects. Museums are living history and repositories of a society’s cultural fund. SPS Museum was maintained meticulously and during the British Raj, European visitors coming to Kashmir made it a point to visit the museum and record their impressions. About the history of Kashmir, especially of Dogra period, this museum is invaluable. There are 79, 595 artifacts and objects covering various subjects like Archaeology, Numismatics, Decorative Art, Arms and Armoury, paintings and textiles etc. However, eight years ago the State Government took the right decision of providing a new and modern building to the museum by the side of the existing museum. One lakh square feet of space was occupied and the project was estimated to cost 65 crore rupees. Executing authorities had two years to bring it to completion. Eight years have passed by and so far, only the ground floor is completed but not provided with its contents. As many as three extensions were given and nobody knows when it will be completed if the work goes on at the snail’s pace as it is now.
The tragedy of this project is that its construction is given to the Police Housing Corporation. Museum architecture is very different from normal architecture and only experts are able to given the design. The PHC is least qualified to undertake these specialized structures of architectural taste. Maybe there were stakes working somewhere, which chose the PHC to grab the 65 crore-rupee contract. Therefore, there is little hope that the new structure will be precisely what a museum should appear. Apart from this shortcoming, another difficulty, which has bedeviled its completion, is irregular flow of funds. Contractors have been complaining of irregular flow of funds. We fail to understand why this difficulty should have cropped up when allocations were already made. Government has a duty to review the entire project and even at this late stage ensure that the blueprint of the museum is what it should be.
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