Two museum employees suspended

Pranava K Chaudhary / TNN / Oct 5, 2006, 02:45 IST

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

Authorities on Wednesday chose to suspend two fourth grade employees from the service for their dereliction of duties.

PATNA: Although the police is yet to make any major breakthrough in the theft of 18 Pala period bronze images from Patna Museum, authorities on Wednesday chose to suspend two fourth grade employees from the service for their dereliction of duties.
These two employees —Baleshwar Mandal and Yogendra Prasad —were on duty as night guards on that night when theft was committed at the museum.
Director, museums, Bihar, Sahdeo Kumar on Wednesday suspended these two employees following a recommendation by additional director, Patna Museum, J P Agrawal. These two employees have been asked to report at the Jannayak Karpoori Thakur Museum at Patna.
Home commissioner Afzal Amanullah, however, claimed that the police have got some vital clues. The culprits would soon be booked.

Resentment prevails among the fourth grade staff following the suspension of their colleagues on flimsy grounds. "The museum authorities are trying to hush up the matter by suspending employees like us. The big fish will be scot free,"said one of the employees.
Inquiries revealed that the keys of galleries was handed over to the museum chemist instead of giving it to the museum incharge.
It is gross violation of norms, said an official. There was no official order for handing over the keys to the chemist, a junior level official of the museum, said another official.

Sources said a senior culture department official has sought the official file concerned in which the key used to be handed over the chemist.
Sources also pointed out that most of the duties in the museum are done only "on verbal order". "Nobody wants to take responsibility of anything here."Who knows the poor chemist might be made the scapegoat in the whole episode,"said another official.
There are still several pertinent questions which are yet to answered. "Without initiating a probe by the CBI, how can the museum authorities build a concrete wall to replace all the broken windows of the galleries broken during the theft. "Why did the museum authorities build these walls in a hurry. Who will explain it"?, asks an official.
"Who are the occupants of the staff quarters located inside the museum premises? Nobody has so far bothered to probe their conduct,"said an official.
Why was Patna Museum, one of the biggest museums in the country, allowed to run by the staff who are holding additional charges? Inquiries revealed that at least half a dozen technical staff posted in the museum have been given dual charges.

End of Article