PUNE, June 21: Ancient documents giving an account of the history of Maharasthra lie wrapped in bundles of cloth at Pune Archives, waiting for the latest technology to save them from destruction. Lack of interest on the part of the state government is spelling doom for over three lakh rare manuscripts and other important historical documents at the Archives.

Pune Archives, established by the British in 1891, continues to use the same primitive methods for preserving ancient manuscripts and documents which were in use a century ago. There has been no effort on the part of the state government to introduce new techniques for preserving these documents.

By this method, the documents can be preserved for about sixty years depending upon the number of times these are handled. At present these so-called preserved documents are kept wrapped in 39000 cloth bundles at the Archives building. Owing to a continuous inflow of historic documents from different parts of the state over the years, the Archives officials anticipate more problems in storing these documents in the future.

Laying to rest all speculations about a state proposal to introduce microfilming of the documents, Indu Rodge, assistant director of Pune Archives said, ``At present there is no state plan to introduce microfilming or preparing a database for preservation of the rare manuscripts and other historical documents.'' However, she said that the state government is contemplating a proposal to expand the Archives building to facilitate the storage of documents. ``But no one knows how long it will take before something is done,'' she added.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.