Regional NSDs not yet fully functional: Culture Minister

Five regional centres of National School of Drama were yet to become fully functional as adequate space and infrastructural facilities had not been provided, Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch told Rajya Sabha today.
The regional NSDs were proposed to be set up in the 9th Five Year Plan at Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai/Goa, Jammu and Kashmir and one in North East, she said in a written reply.
"None of the proposed regional NSDs have become fully functional so far. The governments of Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal have been approached for providing space and infrastructural facilities to start the regional NSDs. The process is underway for setting up these NSDs," Katoch said.

She said there was no fresh proposal to set up an NSD in southern states.
In reply to a separate question, Katoch said 119 posts were lying vacant in the National Museum, which is preserving over two lakh works of art.
She also said Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has found that 81 monuments, protected by Archaeological Survey of India, were missing and information was being collected by the field officers in this regard.