Like everything else in our country, even a seemingly simple task like conserving a relic has got caught in red tape.
Relic discovered from Gateway on Wednesday must wait before archaeologists attend to it only on Monday
Like everything else in our country, even a seemingly simple task like conserving a relic has got caught in red tape. A six-foot rusted cannon excavated by BMC workers during restoration work at the Gateway of India on Wednesday has been dumped in the backyard of the Archaeological Survey of India's (ASI) Mumbai office at Fort.
The cannon, a rare historic relic in the city, was unearthed while digging near Gateway's Swami Vivekanand Chowk and was later taken to the ASI for conservation work. Assistant municipal commissioner Vijay Balamwar exulted, "The piece of history could be kept at the Prince of Wales Museum or be handed over to armed forces after conservation."
However, the proud discovery is not exactly getting the respect it deserves. The cannon has been left to rust on a patch of the ground inside the residential quarters of ASI employees that is amuck with moss and puddles of rainwater. It has discarded bases of columns that previously granted stability to ASI's office for company.
When DNA visited the spot on Thursday, a rooster was amusing itself perched on the cannon. While administration officer VN Kamble said the weighty addition to ASI's collection, which was brought in using a crane, will be treated with chemicals for conservation, officials from the Chemical branch of the Survey's Nagpur office were still awaiting their chance to examine the cannon, with ASI Mumbai's director VN Hegde on a vacation.
"Our director will be back on Monday, so it will have to wait," Kamble said. As per procedure, the team from Nagpur requires a written request from the Mumbai director, after which it would examine the cannon, draw up a report and come back for chemical cleaning.
The cleaning, said Kamble, will take at least 15 days. It will have to languish at its current spot till that time. Officials at the ASI reasoned that the cannon was too heavy to keep anywhere else.
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