The Eastern Zone Records Centre of National Archives of India, Bhubaneswar was set up on 1 March 1996 to cater to the need of central government organizations located in four eastern and eight northeast states. Subsequently in 2007 the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands was also added to its jurisdiction, making it the centre with the largest territorial jurisdiction. The centre was also set up with a special objective of collecting and preserving various palm-leaf manuscripts of Odisha found with different private individuals, temples and monasteries for which the state has the singular distinction.

The centre was first started in Odisha State Archives. Subsequently from 1997 to 2012, it functioned in two rented buildings first in Bhaktamadhu Nagar and thereafter in Shatabdi Nagar. From 17 December 2012 onwards, it is functioning in its own building in an area of about 2.5 acres of land in Madhusudan Nagar, a prime location in the city. Realizing the importance of the centre, the Government of Odisha provided this piece of land on ex-gratia basis. It is four kilometers from Bhubaneswar railway station, seven kilometers from Biju Pattnaik Air Port, three kilometers each from Odisha State Secretariat and Utkal University and one kilometer from Odisha State Archives.

The documentary heritage of the centre consists of about 75,000 files, registers, loose documents, correspondence, patent journals, digital photographs, transcripts and palm leaf manuscripts of both government and private records. Besides, it also has a rich collection of rare books and journals, Gazette of India and periodicals in English, Odia and Bengali, all of which were acquired as gifts. It has also the unique distinction of possessing PSU records in its custody.  Apart from selection, acquisition and conservation of records and extending research facilities to the scholars, the centre also regularly pursues various records management programmes like survey, inspection and appraisal of non-current records in different central government organizations, tenders advice to them and compiles/vets their records retention schedule. It also organizes various outreach programmes like exhibitions, workshops and monthly lectures by eminent scholars and resource persons for arousing archival awareness.

Contact details:

Dr. Keshab Chandra Jena
Assistant Director of Archive
National Archives of India,Records Centre
M-79, Madhusudan Nagar, Unit-4
Bhubaneswar - 751001
Telefax: 0674-2391042/43
Mobile no.: 9999824717 / 9868303125
E-mail: rc [dot] bbsr-archivesgov [dot] in , nai [dot] ornic [dot] in , keshab [dot] jenagov [dot] in