After a long wait, the ball has been finally set rolling for transfer of valuable historical research works of Andhra Pradesh from Telangana to the residuary State.
The government has constituted a four-member expert committee to advise the A.P. State Archives on safe transport and proper arrangement of the records and also to establish and strengthen a modern archive wing here on scientific lines.
The panel comprises V. Ramakrishna, B. Kesavanarayana and A. Ramachandra Reddy, retired professors from the University of Hyderabad, Andhra University in Visakhapatnam and Sri Venkateswara University in Tirupati respectively as members and V. Ranga Raj, Director, A.P. State Archives, as member convenor.
The committee will discuss all aspects relating to the safe transfer from Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh of the important records, proper arrangement and upkeep so they could be preserved for future generations.
At the time of bifurcation, both States were ready to share the “wealth” in a very amicable way but the process hit a roadblock due to certain reasons, fund constraint being one of them.
Prof. Ramakrishna, who has written many books on history and culture of Telugu-speaking people, and has been pursuing the cause with the officials, is happy that things have finally started moving. “The government has rightly recognised the importance of this key sector. Imagine, otherwise, what will happen to the future of our historical wealth,” he said, talking to The Hindu .
Sources in the department said that 30% of the archives have been shifted to the State Archives office at Mangalagiri. The issue of staff crunch is being addressed by absorbing outsourced employees.
Brought from Madras
The journey of these original historical documents has been quite arduous. They travelled from the erstwhile Madras State to Kurnool when Andhra State was formed on October 1 in 1953 with its capital in Kurnool. Though the State of Andhra Pradesh was formed on November 1 in 1956, based on the recommendations of the State Reorganisation Commission, the Andhra Record Office continued in Kurnool as a branch of the Central Record Office (in Hyderabad) till April 31 in 1957. But on May 1 in 1957, it was merged and documents of the period 1920-1952 were shifted to the Central Record Office at Errammanzil in Hyderabad.
The invaluable documents in the Hyderabad office include oldest records, hand impression and seal of Muhammed Adil Shah dated 1643 AD, a document abolishing the practice of Sati and letters written by important people like Mahatma Gandhi.
The wealth of information also has records of Mughal era (1628 to 1707 AD) the times of Asaf Jahi (1724 to 1948), introduction of Andhra State and Andhra Pradesh, district Collectorates, factories, electoral rolls, and inter-State water dispute tribunals to name a few.
There are also documents related to Masulipatnam and Krishna districts, film archives, archival museum, Central assistance schemes, cataloguing and indexing and citizen charter among many other components.
