A total of 2,033 manuscripts comprising of 1,46,099 pages were scanned by Asiatic Society, Kolkata, till March 23 after it was designated as Cluster Centre for manuscript scanning work under the Gyan Bharatam Mission, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.
Union Minister for Culture and Tourism, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, in a written reply, explained the safety network at the Society and said it has basic disaster preparedness measures in place, including fire safety system and Standard Operating Procedures.
He said close liaison is maintained with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Fire and Emergency Services Department, Government of West Bengal and the Local Police Authorities. The society has digitised 11,528 manuscripts comprising 5,72,890 pages in all, he said.
The Grant-in-aid provided by this Ministry to Asiatic Society broadly supports its core functions, and the requirements are reviewed from time to time in view of the scale and preservation needs of its collections, said the Minister. Shekhawat said Asiatic Society’s heritage building is under the jurisdiction of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and necessary steps for its repair and restoration are undertaken through ASI.
Adequate temperature and humidity control system are in place in the Society’s Museum where manuscripts, rare books and artefacts are housed, he said. The Asiatic Society, Kolkata conducts regular checks on the conditions of the rare manuscripts and artefacts in its collection.
Such checks are done by the cataloguers and other officials on regular intervals under the overall supervision of the Curator, he said. He said the Society has its own Conservation and Binding Section to carry out the conservation and binding work.
Since establishing the Manuscript Conservation Centre in 2022, the preventive conservation of 35,624 folios of manuscripts and curative conservation of 4,596 folios of rare manuscripts, has been done by the Society. Cataloguing is a regular work of the Museum and Archive Section.