Hyderabad: With an absolute lack of interest in taking up repairs and a dismal maintenance to go with it, the Telangana state archaeology museum located inside Public Gardens is barely attracting any visitors these days.
And the few who visit the museum are confronted with another problem-dearth of guides, who can explain and educate the visitors.
Even at a most liberal estimate, barely a 100 people visit the museum every day, despite it being the home to one of the six Egyptian mummies in India. The mummy, the museum’s most prized possession, is of an Egyptian girl and dates back to 2500 BC. It has inscriptions in Hieroglyphic script.
People from the Jain community are urging the government to attend to the pending repairs and maintenance issues on a priority basis. The Jain sculptural gallery, which is also housed in the museum, was recently closed for the public as it ‘is under renovation’. The Jain Seva Sangh has donated funds for modifications and getting new furniture.
The museum is one of the richest archives of antiquities and has art objects with Hindu, Jain and Buddhist sculptures, besides coins from Satavahana period and bronze figures from the Vijayanagar and Chola periods.
Surendra Luniya, former president of Jain Seva Sangh, said the museum represents the long history of people of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, apart from the Jain community. “Members of the Jain community along with Ashok Barmecha, president of the Sangh, have visited the site and repeatedly requested the government to repair the gallery and maintain proper upkeep of the museum,” he said.
Meanwhile, museum officials say that they are yet to receive any directions on renovation plans.
“Any instruction on the gallery’s renovation is to be sent by the higher authorities. Patches of material from the gallery’s ceiling were falling down and as a precautionary measure, we have recently closed it for the visitors,” explained B. Ganga Devi, the museum’s assistant director.
