The museum housed thousands of rare specimens of flora and fauna, including a 160-million-year old fossil bone of the Indian Sauropod dinosaur. Though the fire was brought under control a few hours later, there was little that could be salvaged and an inventory of what has been lost is still on. The fire, and the destruction it caused, drew outrage from heritage buffs from across the country, but somehow that came too late, as reports point out that the situation at the museum was bad; so bad that a parliamentary committee that had visited it some time ago had criticised the museum’s functioning. Reports coming in state that the building was under renovation and that the collection from the museum was to be shifted to a state-of-the-art facility.
Looking closely at the background of the National Museum of National History, one finds an uncanny resemblance to the situation in which the State Museum in Goa is currently in. The building housing the exhibits is just 20 years old and is situated at Patto, Panjim, but whenever the State museum hits the news, it is for the wrong reasons. Not too very long after the State Museum was inaugurated there were reports of the building beginning to sink. This was attributed to the land being a khazan area and hence not able to take the load. But other larger buildings in the area have not suffered any such problem. Then there came news that the ceiling was leaking and exhibits had to be shifted to another room, and the list of malfunctioning continued. In this case too, the government is well aware of the condition of the State Museum and there have been moves to renovate the structure.
The first proposal to relocate the museum was made in January 2014, when it was proposed to shift it to the renovated old secretariat building. The next proposal was to renovate the museum during which time the exhibits would be shifted elsewhere, the old Goa Medical Complex at Campal being one of the buildings that had been selected as the temporary repository of the exhibits. Later there came a proposal to demolish the building and build a new one, but, except for making plans and moving proposals to that effect, nothing has been done to put this in action and save the museum and its exhibits.
The fire at the National Museum of Natural History has brought some urgency in the need to tackle the rehabilitation of the State Museum in Goa. Last monsoon Herald had reported on the condition of the museum, stating just how bad this was with portions of the roof collapsed, cracks in the walls, floor tiles damaged and seepage of rain water during the monsoon that endangers the exhibits. There had been assurances that the exhibits would be shifted once the monsoon ends but that has not happened. Another monsoon is just about a month away, but there has been little done to do the minimum required and ensure that the museum is leak proof.
The State Museum has a number of galleries, many of its exhibits dating back to the Kadamba era, and a few even older. There are 10,000 antiques, most of them of significant value that need to be protected. There is now not enough time for the museum exhibits to be shifted to a safer place before the monsoon. The building and the artifacts in it will have to endure another four months of rain before there can be any chance of moving the exhibits to a safer place. Given the precarious condition of the building, this does not inspire much confidence.
