Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Nov 8: The new building of Sri Pratap Singh (SPS) Museum is yet to be made functional despite more than seven years since the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad laid its foundation stone.
Police Housing Corporation, the executing agency, started the work on the new building adjacent to old building at Lal Mandi in Srinagar in March 2008. The Government had directed the agency to complete the construction of the building in two years but PHC missed the deadline. Sources in Department of Archives, Archaeology and Museums told Excelsior that the executing agency had been given two more deadlines in 2012 and 2013 but missed them.
The new building 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.
Sources said that till Azad was Chief Minister, the work on the building was going on with full pace. “However, after National Conference led Government took over, the work went on snail’s pace. No Minister questioned the agency and there was no accountability despite the fact that the concerned Ministers were from Congress,” the sources said.
The old building of SPS Museum was established in 1898 and approximately there are 79, 595 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.
Majority of the officials of the department are fumed over the way the PHC has constructed building. The officials believed that the PHC was not the right agency for the construction of the Museum. “The construction of the Museum is not the normal work. It is a technical work but PHC lacks such a technical knowhow,” an official at SPS Museum told Excelsior on the condition of anonymity.
Many other officials were of the opinion that the building should have been constructed on the pattern of heritage structures. “Does it look like a museum? It is simply like a hotel”, an official asked.
Though the structure of the building is ready but the interiors are yet to be completed. The building comprised four floors including the ground floor. “Though the interior work of the first floor has been completed to a large extent but it seems the interior work on the other two floors would take several years given the pace at which it is undergoing”, the sources said.
Sources in the department further said that it was only after the twin visits of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed that the interior work started picking up. The Chief Minister visited the new building twice and directed the concerned agency to complete the work at its earliest. Besides, Minister of State (MoS) for Culture, Priya Sethi also visited the new building and directed earlier completion of all the work.
The Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums, Ghulam Mohammad Zahid told Excelsior that they are ready to shift the artifacts to the new building anytime. “All we are waiting for is the completion of interior work. We have already de-installed and installed some 200 objects like tiles, bronzes, pottery etcetera in the first floor,” he said. Though the objects have been installed on the interiors of first floor but the PHC has failed to display them. “It is because the contractor they have hired from Mumbai is not reporting, hence causing the delay,” the sources said.
The newly-appointed Managing Director of the PHC, Arun Choudhary said that the first floor of the new building would be completed in December. Asked when the agency is going to complete the work on two other floors, the Managing Director said: “It depends on the flow of funds.”
The top official, however, refused to answer when asked why it took seven years for the agency and said: “I have recently taken over the charge and I don’t know the reasons behind it.”
Follow our WhatsApp channel