The Hindu : Front Page : State Archives records under water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Nov 04, 2005

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Front Page

State Archives records under water

T. Ramakrishnan

1,000 documents are being dried

A view of the Archives Department in Chennai. — File photo

CHENNAI: The hall leading to the chambers of the chief of the State Archives and Historical Research department looks unusual. Some pages of a 92-year-old letter written by the Secretary, Political Department of the then Madras Government, to the Board of Revenue are being dried on an improvised clothes line. Other soggy pages are spread on a table.

This is not the only document that has been affected by the last week's rain. About one thousand other documents went under water.

A visit to the stately heritage building, at Egmore, which houses the department, reveals the extent of the flooding. Even a week after the downpour, the corridors of the building are still damp. "We have never faced this kind of flooding," says an employee.

A top official, however, claims that out of one crore documents, "only some" were affected. The damage to the documents was not serious and they will be restored to their original condition, he assured. On October 27, about 50 persons were roped in to shift the documents. The water was one-foot deep, says the officer.

A Fire and Rescue Services official says that a unit from Triplicane removed nearly 90 bags of records in an operation lasting six hours.

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