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| 'Tell us what you did to our Toshakhana?' | | House Committee smells rat | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Apr 9: The plight of precious treasure Toshakhana of the erstwhile Dogra rule in J&K continues to remain woeful, even as the government officials concerned are speaking in contradictory voices over the important issue.
There are apprehensions being raised over what has happened to the most desired and the precious entities inside the Toshakhana as none other than the House Committee of the state legislature has been misinformed about them.
On Monday, the House Committee admitted that the officers of the state administration are misguiding the people about the actual status of Toshakhana.
The statement issued by the House Committee stated that the Committee showed its displeasure over contradictory statements by the officials regarding the Toshakhana.
The Committee observed that in the previous meeting, it was informed about the misplacement of keys of Toshakhana. Now they were informed that the keys were not lost "but are lying in the custody of the court." The Committee desired that action under law be taken against the officers who misinformed it about the whereabouts of the keys of Toshakhana in its previous meeting.
Pertinently, the great treasure of the Dogra rulers of Jammu and Kashmir contained a glittering ring studded with all the traditional nine gems arranged around a 10-carat diamond. It valued over Rs 10 million.
Besides, there are two diamond necklaces containing 200 blue diamonds, estimated at Rs 10 million; hundreds of rubies from Sri Lanka and Burma.
The treasure also holds 20,000 pearls which is the largest known collection of them, mostly imported from Basra and other cities of Iraq; Rudraksha beads with a rare single furrow and even twin beads.
"There are also two boxes containing 67,000 tolas (1 tola is equal to 11.66 gm) of gold which were donated to the National Defense Fund in 1963 in response to Jawaharlal Nehru's nation-wide appeal for donation of gold following the Chinese attack," reads the report.
Meanwhile, the state government has been speaking in different voices over the present status of this great treasure trove. Presently, the department concerned has preferred to keep its lips sealed over the issue.
In 1983, the then government had made a list of all the items which included necklaces, diamonds, rubies, emeralds etc, stored in the Toshakhana. At that time, a French expert Sotheby Reyner was brought in to evaluate the jewels. He summed up the cost at Rs 500 crores.
In 1947, some eight trucks of the Maharaja's jewel possessions were left behind in Jammu Toshakhana which was later shifted to Srinagar in 1951. Some retired officials even say that a part of the treasure was utilised for financial stability by the government of India after Indo-China War of 1962.
The official records of the presence of these jewels in the government treasuries were maintained till 1983 but after that there is no clue of the same.
The government till date has not come clear over whether it has auctioned the treasure for the execution of the developmental projects in the state. It is even not revealed how much preserved is the treasure and how much of the treasure has been usurped upon by the powers that be. And, where are these jewels now?
Even, Dr. Karan Singh, Maharaja Hari Singh's son, had claimed his right on the treasure, which the Supreme Court of India did not approve of. The state government continues to be the custodian of this priceless legacy. |
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