Bahadur Shah II enthroned. PHOTO: Ghulam Ali Khan
KARACHI: The Delhi government has decided to put Mughal-era documents online. The documents – dating back to 1870s – will be accessible to the public for free once a website ‘e-abhilekh’ is launched.
Being rendered as first of a kind move in Asia, the government aims to digitise and put 40 million documents online over a period of two and half years, according to Indian Express. Most notable of these documents are 500 pages of the 41-day trial of the last emperor of Mughal empire Bahadur Shah Zafar.
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Starting this month, more than 6 million documents that include property papers, jail record, court and partition decrees will be available on internet.
As many as 26 scanners have been bought from Germany to digitise A2-sized documents and another two overhead scanners for A0-sized documents. A group of 150 people working five days a week and nine hours a day has been put to the task of meeting the target, Indian Express reported.
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Another 30 people have been given the task of conserving the paper that is brittle on touch as it is more than a century old. From old railway networks of Delhi coming from that time to private manuscripts in different languages, about a million pages have been preserved physically. The documents are in such bad shape apparently that the workers have to wear masks to protect themselves from the dust.
