A massive fire yesterday damaged a museum of natural history in the Indian capital that had scores of rare exhibits of plants and animals, among them a 160mn-year-old dinosaur fossil.
More than a hundred firemen battled for about three hours to douse the flames that broke out early yesterday on the top floor of the National Museum of Natural History.
“The damage is huge,” said Rajesh Panwar, deputy chief of the Delhi Fire Service, adding that some part of the museum was being renovated and that its firefighting system was out of operation.
“If the fire provisions were working, the fire could have been controlled well in time,” he added.
Among the museum specimens was a 160mn-year-old dinosaur bone, the Times of India newspaper reported.
The extent of the damage would only be known once fire officials hand back the building to the department that manages the museum, said federal Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar, who ordered a safety review of India’s state-run museums.
“This is a real loss. This loss cannot be counted in rupees. Some very old species of flora and fauna were there,” Javadekar said.
The museum contained preserved specimens of butterflies, frogs, snakes, lizards as well as mounted specimens of tigers and leopards.
“Everything has been damaged, some by fire, some by gases and some by the water used to douse the flames,” a museum official said on the condition of anonymity.
Added Vikas Rana, another museum official: “The museum had many fossils and species. Everything is lost... Around 3,000 children from Delhi and nearby regions used to visit it daily.”
Delhi Fire Service chief G C Mishra blamed “an electrical gadget” for the inferno.
“No human intervention was involved in causing the fire that started from the seventh floor. However, we have completely doused the fire but cooling operation is still on,” Mishra said.
Former prime minister Indira Gandhi initiated the idea of the museum in 1972 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of India’s independence.
She desired a museum to depict India’s flora, fauna and mineral wealth to provide an out-of-school facility for education of children and to promote environmental awareness among the masses, according to the museum’s website.
The museum opened in June 1978, coinciding with the World Environment Day.
It had both permanent and temporary galleries, and provided guided tours by trained educational assistants.
Gallery 1 portrayed the origin and evolution of life and the variety and diversity of the flora and fauna in India.
Gallery 2 gave an overview of major eco-systems of the world, role of plants as primary producers, food chains, and interrelationship among plants, animals and human beings.
Gallery 3 dealt with many aspects of conservation of nature.
The museum provided opportunities to children to handle and examine specimens, participate in creative activities such as modelling and painting and exploration of discovery boxes.
The facility, in the heart of New Delhi, is popular with school children, but the fire broke out several hours before opening time.
Plans to move the museum’s collection to a state-of-the-art facility were under way after a scathing report in 2012 by the government’s public accounts committee raised concerns about maintenance.
A parliamentary panel had criticised the environment ministry for the “pathetic functioning” of the museum.