Snowfall exposes faulty construction of SPS Museum

Srinagar: The welcome recent snowfall did not go well for the officials of the SPS Museum, as it exposed the faulty construction of Kashmir’s one of the top heritage sites.
Twenty-three cm snowfall recorded on Monday covered the rooftop of the main building of the museum, leading to a leakage sending water inside the building.
A senior official, who wished not to be quoted by name, told The Kashmir Monitor that the water entered top two floors of the museum
“Fortunately, none of the artifacts got damaged, as they are all placed on the first floor,” he said.
The official said, “Around 20 per cent of the roof is not covered by any tin sheets.”
“The construction is going on the top two floors, and that is why the water easily entered there. Glad it did not enter the first floor where the artifacts are kept.”
The official blamed the “irresponsible” Police Housing Corporation (PHC), which is in charge of the construction of the museum.
The construction of the Rs 65-crore project, which has been going on from 2007, as per the official, have faced several “technical damages in past, with the fault in drainage system being the most recent one”.
“A letter was sent to the PHC three months back, asking them to check if everything was okay before the winter, but they did not take us seriously,” the official claimed. “But, one snowfall was enough to expose them.”
The official also slammed the pace at which the PHC has been examining the construction of the museum.
“The work on the second floor started in October 2017 and I could hardly see any progress. I am glad that, at least, we have the first floor to display the artifacts to our visitors,” he said.
As per Rabia, one of the curators of the museum, the PHC has assured to fix the drainage issue by the end of this month.
However, SK Mishra, who recently took the charge of PHC as the Managing Director (MD), denied commenting on the issue.
Similarly, the previous MD Arun Chaudhary said that he wouldn’t want to comment, as he doesn’t hold any position at the PHC anymore.