Govt library languishes as books gather dust

Sameer Singh

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Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 1

Owing to the absence of staff and shortage of funds, the District Government Library situated near the District Administrative Complex has been lying locked for over four years now.

The government library, situated near Hanuman Chowk, houses thousands of books on varied subjects. Since the library has not been operational for a long time, these books — stored in cupboards — have been gathering dust.

Notably, the library has a collection of more than 35,000 books in 40 different languages, ranging from agriculture, language to social science and fine arts. The library also houses a magazine and newspaper archives section.

The library was started in 1974 and had been receiving books from the Raja Ram Mohan Roy Library Foundation, Kolkata, for many years but as there is no staff member to put forward the requests or maintain records, the library has not received a book for more than five years now. As there is no librarian or clerk to issue the books, readers are also not to be found.

Sources said around five years ago, a librarian retired from service and no appointment was made after that. Even the existing staff members were accommodated in the other departments.

The number of readers at the library had started declining for some time. Moreover, its location has also partly played a role in drawing less number of readers. There is a public library near the Gol Diggi chowk that sees a huge inflow of readers and remains packed to capacity especially in the morning hours.

All government libraries in the state are under the jurisdiction of the Directorate of Public Instructions (Colleges), Punjab. In the district, it is under the charge of Government Rajindra College, Bathinda.

In August last year, the then Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Sakshi Sawhney had said the administration was working out all possibilities to make the government library functional. “I am constantly in touch with the management of the Government Rajindra College for the last three months. There have been some administrative glitches with regard to the appointment of the DDO (Drawing and Disbursing Officer) in the college, but there has been a significant development on that front. We are inching closer to making the library fully functional soon,” said the ADC.

A retired professor from a prestigious university said the administration must hand it over to some trust or NGO that can operate it properly. He added that if shifted or merged with some other library in the district, it could help in utilising best these books.

ADC (General) Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu, said, “We have just got free from the General Elections and the model code of conduct has been lifted. I have to check the status of the library first and a decision regarding its operations would be taken only after that.”