New Delhi : Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday clarified that no historic files have been destroyed by the home ministry.
Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha, the home minister said all important files, including those related to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, are safe.
“The government has destroyed about 11,100 redundant files which have no documentary and historical value,” Rajnath Singh informed the upper house.
The clarification came as opposition members on Wednesday raised concern over historic files being destroyed by the home ministry. The Upper House was disrupted as opposition members, quoting media reports, alleged that nearly 1.5 lakh files, including several historically important files, were destroyed by the home ministry in a cleaning drive.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader P. Rajeev said the files contained historic documents like the record of Lal Bahadur Shastri giving his salary to the calamity fund, first president Rajendra Prasad refusing to take his pension, and also a file which had the minutes of a cabinet meeting held just before assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
“All the files related to Mahatma Gandhi assassination case are safe and have been kept intact in the National Archives. No files related to Lal Bahadur Shastri and Rajendra Prasad were destroyed,” Rajnath assured the House.
He also said the redundant files were destroyed after the Prime Minister underscored the need to improve the work culture and hygiene and cleanliness at work place. The Cabinet Secretary was asked to convey that “files and papers should be weeded out in accordance with rules of record keeping.
