‘Capital’ punishment for 7 at museum?

KOLKATA: The Centre has recommended ‘action’ against seven officials of the Indian Museum for causing irreparable damage to the priceless 350BC Mauryan Lion Capital of Rampurva and damage done to priceless relics like the Mahishasurmardini Durga image. It is also angry about the damage done to the mask gallery due to seepage of rainwater and has raised serious concerns over it in the technical committee report. Both the letters of the ministry of culture refer to TOI reports and in them it has expressed dismay over the state of affairs at the museum.The Centre has asked the museum authority to place the findings of the expert committee before the board of trustees at its meeting on November 5 so that the board can take a decision of action against the guilty officials. The key agenda of the meeting might be on how the Indian Museum authority tried to hush up the incident by not even registering a general diary. The museum authority insisted that nothing was broken. “We will be closely watching the outcome of the meeting,” said a senior official in the ministry of culture.The report prepared by the team led by additional director general of Archeological Survey of India (ASI) Dr B R Mani identified Indian Museum director B Venugopal, security officer Sumanta Roy, senior technical assistant Anusua Das, deputy keeper (archeology) Gita Dutta (now retired), deputy keeper (numismatics and epigraphy) Chhanda Mukhopadhyay (now retired), the then officer on special duty Basudev Dasgupta and conservation officer Sunil Upadhay (now missing) as officials responsible for glaring glitches in handling of the Lion Capital that led to the irreparable damage.The damage caused to the rare Mauryan artifact like the Lion Capital, they reportedly said, is an outcome of negligent handling and almost no extra care was taken while shifting it, the report said. The artifact was being shifted during the renovation of the museum on its bicentenary celebrations. What made the officials even unhappier was the black paint used to camouflage the original and fresh mending lines. The original sandstone colour and lustrous polish, which is one of the finest characteristics of Mauryan stone sculpture, was completely ruined.Use of chemical preservation and preservative coating has only added to its damage.The ministry of culture is also very angry over the damage done to rare masks at the mask gallery. In a letter (no. 17-10/2014-M.II), it has expressed dismay over how the roof was being repaired when monsoon had already set in. The report on the conservation work done at the Indian Museum by ASI has also pointed out some major flaws in the restoration of the historic building being done by NBCC. The report pointed out that NBCC was renovating the building without structural investigation report.The report also mentioned that the construction process flouted rules mandatory for old brick heritage buildings like the Indian Museum. The report said there was “profuse use of polymer as additive to lime mortars in almost all repair locations without any consideration to the fact that this historic building was originally built in lime mortar”.The report also mentioned the danger to the structure due to the existence of voids in the renovated building. These could lead to collapse, said experts. The report clearly said that the building conservation project was not being handled by adequately expert conservation professionals, which is a very basic rule of conservation of such an important heritage building.