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Digitisation of TS, AP historical records in limbo
Digitisation of TS, AP historical records in limbo. The digitisation of not less than five crore historical documents has been stalled because of bifurcation of the State. The Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute took up the task much before the division of the State.
POST-BIFURCATION SCENE
- Funds crunch leads to the project being put in cold storage
- Modernisation of Department of Archives, approved by the Governor, remains a stillborn baby
- A tug-of-war breaks out between TS, AP employees over who heads the Department after incumbent retires next month
Hyderabad: The digitisation of not less than five crore historical documents has been stalled because of bifurcation of the State. The Andhra Pradesh State Archives and Research Institute took up the task much before the division of the State.
With the State Archives and Research Institute being included in 10th Schedule, fund crunch and divergence opinion among the officials belonging to the Telangana State and Andhra Pradesh has led to the project being put in cold storage.
The Institute is preserving millions of rare and historical records in Telangana State between 1406 AD and 1948 AD and records of Andhra Pradesh between 1748 AD and 1956 AD, besides latest documents from 1956 AD relating to both the regions. The Institute was allotted more than Rs 2 crore in the annual budget in the united AP.
But, post bifurcation, during the financial years of 2014-15 and 2015-16, the funds allocated to the Institute was just Rs 80 lakh. It affected various the programmes. Moreover, the proposal for modernisation of the Department of Archives approved by Governor E S L Narasimhan prior to bifurcation, at an estimation cost of Rs 17.4 crore under 14th Finance Commission remains a stillborn baby.
“Prior to bifurcation Salauddin Ahmed, the Advisor to Governor, had visited the State Archives building and expressed concern over the neglect of the Department. Only five per cent of the archives were digitised then and the process was not taken forward since then. He wanted to speed up the process,” recalled an official.
Issue of Director’s retirement sparks tug-of-war As the Director of Archives Dr Zareena Parveen is due to retire next month, a tug-of-war has broken out between rival groups of employees. The rival groups have started lobbying for securing the top post for their candidate, so that they exercise control over the historical records.
The employees belonging to AP are trying to secure the top post for their candidate. The Telangana State employees are insisting that the top post be reserved for someone from the State because most of the records belong to history of Deccan written in Persian.
By Md Nizamuddin
