Soon,building to preserve office records of 18 cantonments

The Pune Cantonment Board is constructing a building to preserve the office records of the other 18 cantonments of the Southern Command in Pune.

The Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) is constructing a building to preserve the office records of the other 18 cantonments of the Southern Command in Pune. A proposal to begin its construction has been cleared by the PCB. The board has also offered the land required for the purpose.

The initiative is aimed at offering researchers as well as the general public easy access to the records that include even some government resolutions of the British era. The PCB has offered a plot of nearly one acre for the construction of the building,which would have modern facilities and strive to prevent damage to the paper records. The cantonment board convened a special meeting last month on the matter,during which a proposal to construct the building at Dhobi Ghat was approved. The elected members of the board turned down a proposal to construct the structure at Golibar Maidan.

PCB vice president Sangita Pawar said a proposal for the construction of a common facility for the other cantonments under the Southern Command was received by the board earlier. The common facility will also double up as a research centre and make it easier for research scholars to access the records, Pawar said.

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According to board member Aarti Mahajan,the members opposed the idea of the building coming up at Golibar Maidan as the board has already decided to raise a sports complex there on build,operate and transfer basis. She added that the meeting of the board was convened specifically to discuss the possibility of construction of the archival facility.

Elaborating on the plan,she said while the PCB will offer the land for the building,the funds required for its construction will be contributed by other cantonment boards. Meanwhile,the PCB has set the ball rolling on its plan to computerise the office records of cantonments. The tenders have been called in, said Mahajan.

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