Warangal’s RSARI in a state of neglect

Hanamkonda: The Regional State Archives Research Institute (RSARI) in Warangal, the only one such establishment outside the State capital Hyderabad is in a state of neglect.

Located on the campus of Kakatiya University in Hanamkonda, it was established in the year 1992 with an objective to help the university students and others those interested in the study of annals. Government records spanning over a period of 1900 to 1975 have been shifted here from State Archives wing.

Nearly 75 per cent records being kept here are in Urdu language and the remaining in English. Urdu records are related to the period of 1900 to 1949 while English records covers the period of 1980 to 1975, the Archivist Mohammed Taher Ali informed The Hans India.

He is the lone soul acting as the custodian of important government documents connected with Nizams’ era and the British rule, for the past 18 years, though the guidelines stipulates that the Archivist has to be assisted by junior assistants and record assistants, two each, besides a peon a sweeper.

But, Ali, whose retirement time is round the corner, has been donning all the roles in safekeeping of the precious government orders, gazettes, maps and books of bygone days. “What is worrying me now is who is going to take care of the annals after my retirement this March 31”, he said.  

The Research Institute got government orders related to land records, extent of tanks, waqf property, assigned lands, inam lands, jagirs, temple lands and others in Warangal, which are of great use in dealing with cases of encroachment of lands, which has become a common phenomenon.

The institute provides a certified copy of the records by collecting just the expenses towards photo copying, in case anyone makes a request. “But here the visitors are very rare,” noted Ali, whose proficiency in Urdu makes him all the more important in handling the documents of Nizam’s rule.

The Research Institute, though sounds something big, is just a dilapidated structure, which the university provided to run it. The cracked ceiling leaks water, when it rains, damaging the bundles of records that are already in a vulnerable state.

Ali further informed there are records at the Research Institute on the proceedings of land acquisition for civil aerodrome proposed at Mamnoor airstrip in 1963 and on commencement of coal mining activity in Telangana. “To preserve all those documents, there is a need for more staff and a secure structure,” he added.

“The State government should continue the serving Archivist on outsourcing basis or appoint a person with suitable experience for taking care of the archives after he retires,” suggested an RTI activist and lawyer Potlapelly Veerabhadra Rao.