BMC to rope in pvt firms to digitise 140-yr-old records

The Sena-BJP ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will soon start the process of saving and preserving its records as old as 140 years.

The Sena-BJP ruled Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will soon start the process of saving and preserving its records as old as 140 years. The civic body will also translate them into Marathi. It has planned to rope in private agencies for the project,which includes digitisation of records and preservation of more than 1,200 volumes according to the old method.

“We have planned to take up the records of municipal secretary (MS) department in the first phase. It is the most important department as all the records of resolutions of general body meetings,standing committee meetings,improvement committee meetings and other major meetings are handled by the MS department,” said Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta.

He added that while one cannot estimate the number of records in every department,the initiative to preserve the records will be taken on priority and funds will be allocated every year.” The BMC has sought help from the state government’s archival department for technical know-how and policy guidelines,and Asiatic Library for preservation techniques of old records.

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The MS department has over 1,200 thick hardbound volumes containing minutes of meetings,resolutions and contract details. Each volume runs into about 1,000 pages. These details include major decisions and historical records of storm water drains,roads,lease agreements,building and construction permissions,legal details and budgetary records,said an official overlooking the project.

“We will start the process of digitisation and translation of the records dating back to the 1870s. While there are over 600 volumes from 1870 to 1980,which are of 1,000-1,200 pages each,there are 580 volumes from 1980 to 2002 and are about 700 pages each. These volumes are handwritten in calligraphy script,” said the official from BMC’s archive department.

According to officials,these volumes run the risk of getting damaged not only by water and insects,but even through air and human touch. It was getting difficult for us to access these volumes and refer to historical records as even touching and turning its pages were resulting in its wear and tear,said an official from the municipal secretary department.

For the first phase the project has been allocated Rs 7.5 crore which will later be increased for other departments,said officials. “We have to restore more than 10 lakh pages which is a challenge given the budget,but we will ensure that only experienced companies or individuals,who are adept at the Marathi unicode text,will be given the contract,” said an official.

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