NEW DELHI: The Pradhanmantri Sanghralaya (Prime Ministers’ Museum) built on the Teen Murti Bhavan campus is ready to welcome visitors. The culture ministry is waiting for the go-ahead from the office of the Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to fix a date for its inauguration.
“The project is complete, which will be inaugurated soon on an appropriate and significant date by Prime Minister Modi himself. Instructions are awaited from his office to plan its opening,” said culture ministry officials.
Earlier, the Government thought of two dates—December 25, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee, which is also observed as Good Governance Day-- and January 26 (Republic Day)--to inaugurate the facility.
The museum, dedicated to all the former PMs of the country with a cost of Rs 271 crore, was approved in 2018. Being built on a 10,000-square metre piece of land adjacent to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in Teen Murti Bhavan, the museum will have exhibits related to the former PMs such as rare photographs, speeches, video clips, newspapers, interviews and original writings on display.
The officials said that appropriate space had been allocated to galleries of 14 former PMs proportionately according to their term in the office.
“The museum is a right mix of artefacts and personal belongings of the former PMs also collected from their families and technology—digital displays. The personal collections comprise photographs, letters and caps etc. The families readily handed over articles related to the PMs. All of them have been treated respectfully in terms of content and prominence,” said an official.
The new construction has been integrated with the old building, which served as the Nehru Memorial Museum.
In December, union culture and tourism minister G Kishan Reddy told The New Indian Express that instructions to expedite the work had been issued and the museum might be opened on December 25.
The facility was scheduled to open in October 2020. However, a coronavirus pandemic and other issues delayed the project.
Teen Murti Bhavan was built in the 1930s by the British administration. Later, it served as the official residence of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru. He stayed there till 1964.