Officials let funds for preservation of 'Golden Quran Sharif' lapse

Owing to sheer negligence of the Archeology department officials, a fund of Rs. 12.34 lakh sanctioned towards the preservation of the "Golden Quran Sharif" kept in the Archeological Museum, Kakinada has lapsed.

The impact of Covid -19 has caused the authorities to delay the sanctioned fund which later elapsed. The government of AP had issued Go 37 on March 16, 2021 sanctioning an amount of Rs. 12.54 lakh for protecting and preserving an ancient golden Quran. Significantly, the government had sanctioned the amount as additional funds towards conservation of the paper manuscripts of Muslim devotional books like Quran and other manuscripts.

When "The Hans India" highlighted the ancient golden Quran Sharif kept in the Archeology Museum on November 6, 2019, many Imams and devout Muslims made a beeline for the museum to have a glimpse of the golden Quran kept in the Museum. They expressed their joy and reverentially bowed their heads before the golden copy of the Quran.

According to the Archaeology Department officials, there are 4,500 palm leaves scripts and 500 manuscripts of Andhra Sahitya Parishad at Kakinada and lying neglected without receiving the attention of any scholar . He said that the Islamic scripture belongs to the time of the great Moghal Emperor Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar written in Arabic language and embossed in antique gold is neglected and lying in the corner in the Archaeology Department without being paid any attention in the dust.

The gold-coated 5 book set of "Quran Sharif" is neglected even though a rare collection was handed over from Madras Presidency in 1892 to Andhra Sahitya Parishad to the Archaeological section. He said a gold coated "Quran Sharif" manuscript book was of 1550 -1600 AD.

Archeology department Assistant Director K Thimmaraju told "The Hans India '' that tenders could not be called for the preservation of the golden Quran in view of the pandemic crisis. Moreover, nobody turned up for tenders despite the repeated request of the department. He added that owing to some technical problems, the fund elapsed. However, Thimmaraju assured that the government would sanction the elapsed fund and the department would take necessary steps for the process of preservation and protection of the ancient golden Quran.

Reacting on the issue, Mohammad Muktar Ali, president, Shahi Jamia Mosque said that it is the responsibility of both the Central and State governments to preserve a precious and holy Quran in golden form kept in the Kakinada Archeological Museum, years ago. He said that when Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had sanctioned such a huge amount for the preservation and protection of the Quran in the golden form, he fails to understand why the Archeology department neglected in releasing the sanctioned amount immediately for its protection. He alleged that the department personnel should explain the reasons for the laps and on the part of the department.

He demanded the government to probe into the reasons for the lapses and take necessary action against those responsible for non-release of the fund. He demanded that necessary funds should be released for the preservation and protection of the golden Quran.