CHENNAI: For retired school teacher Shanmugam, being around books and newspapers inside the age-old district library near his house in Royapuram always brought back fond memories of being a teacher. But the one place he frequents twice a day for the past 10 years is now crumbling before his eyes.
With a gaping crack running through the centre of the building, the St Xavier’s Madras District Library in Royapuram is a fine example of ill-maintenance and neglect. But for the past 10 years, due to lack of funds and ignorance of officials, residents and schoolchildren who visit the library regularly are apprehensive to even enter its premises. “There are huge cracks in every part of the building. When it rains, the library gets flooded. The library in-charge rarely visits the library and has employed one resident from this area to open and close the library every day. The room in which the books are kept is always locked,” said Shanmugam.
There are hardly any books that the public can access, and is equipped only with a few rickety chairs and tables. “Whenever the bulb doesn’t work, all of us pool in money and replace it. Officials have temporarily repaired it more than 10 times. But we want this building to be demolished and rebuilt,” said Jayaraman, another regular visitor to the library.
The library which was opened in 1992 was initially maintained well by officials but now the structure is in a dilapidated state. “District officers and building supervisors from the libraries department visited this library last week and said they will soon forward a report to the Public Works Department (PWD). After surveying the place, they will decide if the building needs to be repaired or demolished and re-built,” said the library in-charge.
St Xavier’s District Library is one among many such libraries in the city that are in a state of neglect due to delay in fund dispersal by the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC). Six months ago, library cess which is levied along with property tax, was doubled from five per cent to 10 per cent. According to data provided by the GCC, in the first half of 2018-19, an extra amount of 3.72 crores will be collected after the hike in library cess. “From around one lakh core city properties, we have collected `1.34 crore and yet to collect `2.37 crore from around three lakh properties. This delay in distributing funds has been going on for years, we are trying to rectify it now,” said a corporation official.
Though doubling of funds was done to increase the standards of local libraries, collected funds do not reach the department of public libraries on time. Due to this, smaller, lesser-known libraries remain in the background without getting the help they need. “We were supposed to receive around `36 crore as library cess for the year 2017-18. But till date, we have received only `8 crores. Three months ago the GCC gave us half the amount and one week ago we received 4 crores more. For this year, we are supposed to receive around `40 crore but we will get that only next year,” said a District Library officer (DLO) from the public libraries department.
There are a total of 158 libraries located in the city. But bigger, well-known libraries like Anna Cenetary and Connemara library hog the limelight. Around 70-80 lakh is allocated to repair and maintain only Anna Library. “Smaller libraries like the ones in Nungambakkam Lake View Road and Choolaimedu High road are poorly maintained by officials and hardly have any new books. Such libraries hardly come under the notice of officials,“ said Anbarasan, a resident of Nungambakkam.