Nearly 10,000 artifacts of Goa State Museum here are at a risk as they are currently housed in a dilapidated building.
The state government has already announced that the existing building housing the museum at Patto would be demolished as it is crumbling and a state-of-the-art complex would come up there.
"We are seeking for an alternate place where these artifacts could be safely housed. The government has identified Old Goa Medical College (GMC) building, which is in possession of Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), for its relocation," Museums Minister Alina Saldanha said recently.
"The ESG is yet to vacate the premises, which has held back the shifting of these artifacts," Saldanha said.
As per government records, there are about 10,000 artifacts in the state museum and most of them date back to the Kadamba dynasty era.
The minister said the state government is aware of the "hazardous" condition of the museum.
According to Saldanha, the structural assessment of the museum building was done by a firm in 2012, which had then said the structure was in a "satisfactory condition" and did not need any major retrofit/repairs.
"The inspection, however, found extensive damage to the flooring and minor damage to some walls," she said.
The museum consists of 15 galleries, including that of Christian Art, Banerji Art Gallery, Religious Expression, Cultural Anthropology, Contemporary Art, Numismatic, Goa's Freedom Struggle Gallery and others.
Meanwhile, the ESG, which organises the annual International Film Festival of India, says it is not possible to handover the old GMC building for relocation of artifacts.
"It is not possible to hand over the old GMC building for temporary relocation as it houses IFFI secretariat and offices of Union Directorate of the film festival," ESG Vice Chairman Damodar Naik told PTI.
"If we vacate the building, where shall we shift these IFFI related offices? The work for IFFI continues round the year and these offices are always functional," he said.
According to Naik, only after the IFFI secretariat is moved to some independent space, the old GMC building can be used for temporarily housing museum artifacts.
He said there are several other empty places like Old Secretariat here, which can be used to put up the artifacts.
