That is exactly what the councillors of the Margao Municipal Council did when they were insistently told that the file pertaining to the Sonsoddo project was missing. They adjourned the council meeting and went in search of the file and, though they didn’t find the Sonsoddo file they were looking for, the search was quite fruitful as they did find other missing files in the cabin of a junior engineer. Also discovered in the same cabin during the search was the file register of the missing Sonsoddo files. It took the resolve of the councillors of the Margao Council to expose how files can go ‘missing’.
Since the files were so easily found in the cabin of the junior engineer, the question arises of whether these files were really missing or was this just an excuse not to produce them before the council. That is something that has to be investigated as files going missing is a serious issue. In the case of the Sonsoddo files, they are apparently missing for 18 months hampering the work. The council resolved that a police complaint will be filed against the concerned engineer if the missing files are not traced. There were also charges made by the councillors of corruption. All that needs to be probed, otherwise they remain mere allegations.
Government files are public records and there is a system to be followed in maintaining the files. The missing files in the instant case do not pertain to some historical event or are of archival nature that could get the file lost in a mountain of new paperwork, but of issues that are being debated, discussed and on which decisions have to be taken. They cannot go suddenly missing, but this has happened in the State in the past also and so too at the present time. Missing files can have various reasons. Either they genuinely cannot be found where they are supposed to be, or have been deliberately misplaced or in extreme circumstances, perhaps even got rid of. The question that also arises is whether the files go missing because of an administration that is not competent enough. If it is the latter, than the system of storing files has to be tightened and made foolproof.
Missing files, however, may cause a temporary flutter before the issue is forgotten, but the implications could be several. For one if there has been some underhand dealing, in the absence of the file it may never be proved. It is perhaps for that reason that several files do go missing – deliberately missing so that the compromising material may not be discovered. It is a phenomenon that is not restricted to Goa, but is also prevalent in the rest of the country. It, therefore, requires to be dealt with so that there are no more such instances of lost or missing files.
Digitisation of files is an acceptable solution that has to be considered by the government as this would also allow the possibility of keeping a copy or copies of the files. It would, however, require the government employees to update their computer skills. Digitisation from now on would be easy, but the government would have another task that would be to get the large number of files of the past copied in digital format and stored so that there is a record of this. It would, of course, save space as the files would be saved in digital format and not have to be stored physically occupying space and remain for posterity.
