Maharashtra govt. yet to compensate tribal artists for missing paintings

Tribal Development Department allegedly lost their paintings worth ₹20.79 lakh displayed at an international exhibition in Malaysia in June 2018.

Tribal artists have been waiting for over three years for compensation from the Maharashtra government after its Tribal Development Department (TDD) allegedly lost their paintings worth ₹20.79 lakh displayed at an international exhibition in Malaysia in June 2018. The Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts had organised 16th World Indian Festival - 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between June 9 and 17, 2018. The State’s TDD had displayed hand-made products and paintings from tribal artisans for which a number of officials from the department visited Malaysia along with artists. “On their return, the artists found that several of their paintings missing. Artist Swapna Pawar wrote to the department informing that her 17 paintings were missing. Similarly, paintings from tribal artists in Dahanu could not be found,” said Rajendra Maraskolhe, president, Organisation for Rights of Tribals, Nagpur. The cost of those paintings was ₹7.90 lakh.