Hyderabad: Salar Jung Museum suffers 1 crore loss

Hyderabad: Since the Covid-19 outbreak, the Salar Jung Museum (SJM) has suffered Rs 1 crore loss due to the ban on entry of visitors. The museum is yet to open. A Nagender Reddy, Director, SJM, said, "The footfalls increase in summer and that was when the coronavirus pandemic struck. We are yet to hear from the ministry about reopening the museum."

On an average, 15 lakh visit the museum per month and the number goes up to 25 lakh during summer vacation. This year, however it has been a damp squib. A number of schools send their students to the museum which is now not possible said a senior official of the museum.

The museum has 100 regular staff and 60 are on daily wages. Since the last four months, the staff is working in rotational basis. Nagender Reddy says art enthusiasts do visit the website and take virtual tours. The photo gallery is exhaustive and one can gain insights.

Recently, Medhavi Gandhi, an art aficionado, developed a game – Scavenger Hunt – in which one can look for particular objects in Salar Jung Museum using Google Arts & Culture. Soma Ghosh, librarian, SJM, says, "Many books from the Salar Jung Museum, including a few rare ones, are available online on India culture portal. This happened during lockdown and we are active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram catering to art lovers."

The tourist guides numbering 7-8 at the museum are now out of business. Rahim, a guide said, "There is nothing we can do. The peak season is over and we are hoping that the Union Ministry directs the opening of museums. During October we get a lot of tourists especially from West Bengal. We have been hit badly as it is our sole source of income."