The museum is run by the India Trade Promotion Organisation

The architect of a memorial for India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, has alleged that the museum has been neglected over the years and allowed to be “desecrated”.
Raj Rewal, who designed the Nehru Memorial Pavilion at Pragati Maidan in 1972, visited the building on Saturday, also Nehru’s 126th birth anniversary.
Mr. Rewal told The Hindu that he decided to visit the Pavilion after friends, also architects, visiting from abroad informed him about the poor state of the structure.
“What I saw was that the objects, clothes and photographs on display on the ground floor had faded and many were eliminated completely,” he added.
The first floor of the airy building housed a small cinema, which played four documentaries on Nehru’s life, including a clip from the famous “Tryst With Destiny” speech that he gave at midnight when India attained Independence from British rule.
“The audio-visual display has been replaced by a dirty office. It is an outrage that the government had allowed the museum to be desecrated.”
The museum is run by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), which works under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
“Most probably things started to go south with the previous government. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also not given any attention to the museum, though he talked about Nehru when he spoke in London recently,” said Mr. Rewal.
When The Hindu visited the site on Sunday, Day Two of the ongoing trade fair at Pragati Maidan, the museum had hardly any visitors.
According to a senior ITPO official, the first floor audio-visual display was discontinued due to the lack of interest. “It’s untrue that we have neglected the Nehru Pavilion. But we have not upgraded or put in any new infrastructure there,” added the official.
The pavilion’s exterior was inspired by Buddhist stupas , so the entire building is embedded in a grassy mound. The greenery has faded, though the interiors appeared clean albeit a bit musty.
“I wanted to show the simplicity of Nehru with the grass mound and a sensitive appreciation of his life and times. But the callousness of the authorities has left the museum degraded,” said Mr. Rewal.