No takers for vintage car museum in Chandigarh

Dushyant Singh Pundir

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 16

There are no takers for UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore’s dream project, a vintage car and heritage furniture museum, in the city. Even after floating fresh tenders, no company has expressed interest in running and managing the project.

The UT Administration had re-invited tenders for a third time for the project of converting the Government Press building in Sector 18 into a museum of vintage cars and heritage furniture.

Bids were invited from companies and agencies desirous of running the museum at a monthly rent of nearly Rs4 lakh by the Department of Culture of the UT Administration, but no company came forward to run the museum.

As per the terms and conditions, the selected company will look after the establishment as well as the maintenance and operation of the museum. On the ground floor of the building, where machines used to run earlier, a vintage car museum is to be built. It will have about 50 vintage cars.

Each car will reportedly display its owner’s name, model, company name, chassis and engine number. As soon as you will enter the building, there will be a museum of vintage cars and motorcycles on the left. The next section will be of heritage furniture. It will showcase Pierre Jeanneret’s design furniture and other heritage work.

Letters from French architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, manhole covers and many other items belonging to the city will be displayed there. The Government Museum and Art Gallery has in its possession a large number of heritage items, including furniture, drawings, murals and models made by Le Corbusier and his associates. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, civil secretariats and the Vidhan Sabhas of both states have a large stock of heritage furniture.

The Art and Culture Department has contacted people of the tricity. As many as 24 have agreed to park their vintage cars in the museum.

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