Rawat rushes to the aid of film archive

PUNE: Responding to the TOI report (May 25) on priceless film classics at the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) being jeopardised by ongoing power cuts, city MP Pradeep Rawat has promised to finance back-up generators there.
Rawat has also appealed to the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the National Film Archive of India (NFAI).On Sunday, Rawat visited the NFAI along with Bharatiya Janata Party corporators and asked NFAI director L.K. Upadhyaya to put up an application for funds for the back-up generator.
Upadhyaya told Rawat that a spare generator at the Archive’s upcoming nitrate vault in Kothrud had been rushed to the Prabhat road facility. The TOI report had highlighted how prolonged power cuts had made it difficult to maintain standard temperature and humidity levels in the three vaults, housing thousands of rare Indian and international films. The failure of the 200 KV back-up generator at the centrally-air-conditioned Prabhat road facility had made matters worse for the archive.
A film-buff himself, Rawat has also suggested that all films presently stored in cans should be digitalised so as to increase their life. The MP promised to speak with officials from the information and Broadcasting (I&B) ministry officials to speed up the conversion of the archive into digital format.