Thousands of documents, records lost, as rains damaged hundreds of government buildings in Thoothukudi

Torrential rains in southern T.N. districts caused extensive damage to 1,819 government buildings, with records & computers lost. Officials struggle to restore records & equipment, with Finance Minister estimating funds required for restoration.

The torrential rains that lashed the southern T.N. districts recently also damaged a number of facilities and buildings, particularly government offices. It may take up to a year to fix the damage that these buildings have sustained, sources said.

According to official records, 1,819 government buildings in the region were damaged in the rain causing a huge loss of government records.  

While the Thoothukudi district Collectorate sustained a lot of damage due to the water that flowed inside the premises, many government offices in rural areas that were operating out of buildings in low-lying areas lost all the records that they had maintained and stored. In addition to this, police stations too, were affected in the rain. Computers, printers and other devices as well as case registers have become completely unusable. 

A revenue official in the Eral taluk said, almost every document stored at their taluk office was either washed away or damaged and the computers too, where important records were stored, were damaged.  

Explaining the situation, the official said, finding residents through the records to provide relief assistance has itself become challenging owing to the dysfunctional computers.  “To save the few remaining documents, we have placed the papers under the sun to dry. Officials and staff all had to work outside the office, as the office has also been damaged,” the official said. 

As the rains began on a Sunday (December 17, 2023) not many documents could be saved. “Even as a precautionary measure we couldn’t do anything as there were no staff members present to relocate the files,” the official said. Though the records have been uploaded onto a server that can be accessed and then retrieved, officials are still grappling to figure out what has been lost and what remains.

Similarly, many offices in Srivaikunatam have also faced damage, with documents and electronic devices damaged. Three police stations in Thoothukudi district: Megnanapuram police station, Eral police station and Thoothukudi south police station have faced extensive damage.