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| Dogra treasure: Committee formed to find Toshkhana items | | | Peerzada Ummer
Early Times Report
srinagar, Sept 30: The government on Friday constituted a committee to ascertain the status of the treasure that the Dogra rulers left behind in the state.
Last year, on October 2, the Early Times carried a detailed story about government's non-serious approach towards the misplacing of Toshkhana items.
The report titled 'Why is Govt silent on Maharaja Hari Singh's Treasure?' had stated that the great treasure, contained a glittering ring studded with all the traditional nine gems arranged around a 10-carat diamond worth approximately Rs ten million; two diamond necklaces containing 200 blue diamonds, estimated at Rs 10 million; hundreds of rubies from Sri Lanka and Burma.
The treasure also contains 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 from the trove containing 67,000 tolas (1 tola-11.66 gm) of gold which were donated to the National Defense Fund in 1963 in response Jawaharlal Nehru's nation-wide appeal for donation of gold following the Chinese attack," reads the report.
On Friday, Chairman, J&K Legislative Council, Haji Anayat Ali constituted a Joint House Committee (JHC) to inquire into the misplacing of items from Toshkhana, Jammu.
The Joint House Committee will be headed by MLC Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo. Its members include legislators Mrs Rani Gargi Blowria, G. N Monga, Surinder Kumar Chowdhary, Vikramaditya, Sofi Yousuf, S. Charanjeet Singh, Ajaz ahmad Khan, Rajesh Gupta, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Mr Kamal Verma and Pawan Kumar Gupta.
The Committee will submit its report before the next session of the legislature.
It is worthwhile to mention here that the Chairman constituted a Joint House Committee after the Member Rani Gargi Blowria was not satisfied with the reply furnished by the government in the House with regard to fire incidents occurred in Mubarak Mandi Complex, Jammu and the reasons of demolishing the park and historical Chabutra there.
The members pressed for constitution of House Committee to enquire into the misplacing of the items from Toshkhana and Minister for Technical Education on behalf of Minister concerned agreed to constitute a Joint House Committee in this regard.
Pertinently, the government in the year 1983 had made a list of all the items which included necklaces, diamonds, rubies, emeralds etc. At that time, a French expert Sotheby Reyner was brought in to evaluate the jewels whose cost was summed up at Rs 500 crore back then.
In 1947 some eight trucks of the Maharaja's jewel possessions were left behind in Jammu Toshkhana 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 that 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 claimed his right on the treasure, which the Supreme Court of India did not approve of. Seemingly, the state government still continues to be the custodian of this priceless legacy. |
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