It will take almost one month to recreate most of the 2.25 lakh files lost in the devastating fire in Mantralaya on Thursday. However, chief minister Prithviraj Chavan assured that the administrative functioning will be back
to normal in a few days time.
The CM added that as a symbolic gesture, state deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and he would try and work from the first floor of the main building.
Mr Chavan reviewed the situation inside the Mantralaya on Saturday, visiting it twice during the day, once before noon and then again at around 4.30 pm. After his first visit, he said that he might have been wrong in assuming that data on the hard disk could be retrieved, as even those had been burnt to ashes.
“I was wrong when I said that Nasscom and other experts can retrieve the lost data. However, IT secretary Rajesh Agarwal has told me that in one month’s time, they will be able to recover as much as possible,” said the CM.
While it was not possible to say anything about the reuse of the burnt floors till reports of structural audit teams, crime branch as well as some experts were submitted, the CM said that symbolically, the Mantralaya should start functioning soon. “All the ministers are quite settled here, but I want to see if the DCM and I can start working from the first floor and also hold cabinet meetings there. This would be just to send across a positive message that things are back to normal,” said the CM.
Although he did not address the question of whether the building would be reconstructed or a new building would be set up, as suggested by Union Minister Sharad Pawar, he said, “From the safety point of view, I wanted to have some structural changes made, but the budget was going beyond Rs 200 crore and people would have made a hue and cry about it”.