The Telangana State Archives and Research Institute has finalised the location for housing precious documents, presently located in the Interim Repository (IR) at the Secretariat.
Space rented
The Archives wing has been on the lookout for a suitable place ever since the government announced plans to shift the departments from the Secretariat, paving the way for construction of a new complex. Accordingly, it has rented out space of around 10,000 sq ft at the Maitrivanam complex and has decided to shift the existing documents to the new premises.
The IR houses several records of the State, including historical ones. Spread in over 20 lakh folios, these records include personal collection of several eminent people like communication of Nizams of the erstwhile Hyderabad State, classified as confidential in those days.
The IR boasts of Indian ephemeris, a collection of data from AD 700 to 1,779 giving calculated positions of celestial objections.
Brittle documents
Senior officials said that efforts were under way to first secure the documents, which are already in a dilapidated condition and had become brittle. “We have to handle them carefully or else they will suffer further damages,” State Archives Director General A. Murali told The Hindu .
The Archives wing was therefore opting for preservatives, including herbal treatment of the age-old manuscripts and bundling them in protective clothes to ensure they did not break up during transit.
The space rented out in Maitrivanam would, however, be not adequate to host the entire collection, as the existing close to 13,000 sq ft at the Secretariat itself was not enough. The department has decided to accommodate as many documents as possible at the new venue and shift the remaining to the Archives head office at Tarnaka, by making some space in the already crammed premises.
