Shortage of ideas or funds? 'City's Visvesvaraya museum is way off global standards'

BENGALURU: The Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum (VITM) may be one of India's top museums, but the Karnataka Tourism Vision Group has keyed out why Bengaluru's iconic museum fails to figure among the best science museums globally .
The museum was found lacking multilingual signages, a dedicated kids play area, an inclusive design, trained guides, audio tours and free WiFi in a `Bengaluru Museum Circuit' study done by the vision group, headed by M a n i p a l Global Education Services chairperson T V Mohandas Pai. The study compared the 53-year-old museum with the German Museum of Technology in Berlin, which features “wheelchair access, specially designed tour for blind people, guided tours, audio guides, picnic areas, barrier-free access“ that VITM apparently lacks.

“The museum authorities are wallowing in self-pity . They have a limited ability to understand what's best. It is a sad reflection of how museums are run in our country ,“ Pai said.

Meanwhile, museum authorities are miffed with the study . The comparison with the German museum “is uncalled for because that museum is exhibitory and not in teractive like ours.“

Pai said that authorities did not evince interest when Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw offered to adopt the museum and develop it into a world-class one.Shaw withdrew her offer last month following opposition from VITM authorities, who say her offer was “to completely handover the museum for Biocon to run.“

Tourism Minister R V Deshpande, who floated the idea of allowing corporates to adopt popular tourist spots, still favours Shaw adopting the museum. “The (museum) people should have known that Shaw's adoption would have gone a long way in attracting tourists from all over the world. I can't compel Shaw, but I will take it up with the Central government under whom the museum operates,“ Deshpande told ET.

With an entry fee of just Rs 40, the museum gets over 10 lakh visitors annually . The museum's latest offerings are the Kitty Hawk simulator of the Wright Brothers' aeroplane and Science on a Sphere, a high-resolution digital experience developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA.

Entrepreneur M K Panduranga Setty, founding member of the Visvesvaraya Industrial Museum Society and a VITM executive committee member, said no offer requiring handing over of the museum can be accepted. “We aren't against the museum's development. Let Pai or Shaw come with funds and ideas. We'll welcome that, but not taking over the museum.“