3000 bags lying in Kala Kendra, over 9000 in Mubarak Mandi
Directorate of Archives & Archaeology needs more manpower
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Oct 14: Finally, shifting of archival record to the state-of-the-art building constructed by Jammu Smart City Limited (JSCL) near Kala Kendra at Bikram Chowk has begun and efforts will be made to complete the exercise as early as possible so that documents containing varied facets of history are properly preserved for posterity.
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The issue of inordinate delay in shifting of archival record to modern building was exclusively highlighted by EXCELSIOR in its edition dated June 19, 2024. The issue also figured in the meetings of the Culture Department taken by Chief Secretary and accordingly instructions were issued to the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums to expedite the process.
Reliable sources told EXCELSIOR that Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums has finally started the exercise of shifting archival record to the new building constructed by spending crores of rupees by Jammu Smart City Limited strictly as per the requirements projected by the Directorate of Archives.
“The shifting of archival record lying in Kala Kendra has been taken up immediately and thereafter attention will be paid towards the record kept in Mubarak Mandi complex”, they said while disclosing that around 3000 bags are lying in Kala Kendra and around 9000 in Army Headquarters of Mubarak Mandi Complex and Old Treasury Building and at any of these places there is no such facility as has been created by Jammu Smart City Limited in the state-of-the-art building.
The building was formally taken over by Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums from Jammu Smart City Limited in the month of February this year. The Directorate even received proper briefing and training about the handling of state-of-the-art equipment installed in the building for better preservation of the archival record.
The three-storeyed building with a total covered area of 21,000 square feet is having Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (H-VAC) system of 100 tonnage capacity, package STP of 10 KLD capacity, IT equipment like 107 CCTV cameras, face recognition biometric system, walk through detector with temperature scanning, sensor and hooters for detecting intruders, centralized control room for monitoring and fire fighting system with smoke detector and alarm system, DG Set 200 KVA, transformer sub-station 200 KVA and rain water harvesting system.
When contacted, Director Archives, Archaeology and Museums K K Sidha confirmed that shifting of archival record lying in Kala Kendra to newly constructed modern building has been started. “The new building is having all those equipment which are required for proper upkeep of the record”, he added.
“There is dire need to shift archival record to state-of-the-art building keeping in view its bad condition in all three places where the same is lying presently”, sources said, adding “Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums will make all out efforts to shift the entire record to new building as expeditiously as possible keeping in view the instructions issued by the Government in numerous meetings”.
They further said, “there is also pressing need of increasing the manpower in the Directorate of Archives, Archaeology and Museums as available strength is not sufficient to handle the task of identifying and preserving the rich cultural heritage in different forms like archival records, archaeological monuments and antiquities”.
“The intensity of the manpower shortage can be gauged from the fact that the Directorate doesn’t have sufficient number of Chowkidars to effectively keep watch on the State Protected Monuments”, they said and asked how one Chowkidar can look after several monuments despite the fact that each heritage complex needs at least three-four personnel for watch and ward duty.
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