CUTTACK: Members of the Biswanath Pandit Central Library students’ association on Saturday staged dharna in front of the office of the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), Biju Bhawan at Choudhury Bazar, protesting the sharp hike in the annual library membership fees.
Holding placards and shouting slogans, the protesting students also locked the gate of the facility in a mark of protest. The agitators alleged that the annual library membership fee had been sharply increased from Rs 100 to Rs 2,900 by the CMC, which could not be afforded by many students and competitive exam aspirants.
A protester Laxminarayan Sethi said while the fee for holding the membership of Dr Harekrushna Mahtab State Library in Bhubaneswar for four years is only Rs 225, the CMC has enhanced the annual membership fee of Biswanath Pandit Central Library from Rs 100 to Rs 2,900.
The protesters demanded that the facility be made reasonably affordable for students rather than treating it like a commercialised space. Association president Swagat Das said they first staged demonstration in front of Bikash Bhawan in the morning.
“However as the civic body paid no heed, we took out a rally to Biju Bhawan. A delegation of our association had gone to CMC commissioner Kirandeep Kaur Sahota to discuss the matter but the latter misbehaved with them and asked them to show identity proof for which we staged dharna,” he alleged.
Das further demanded that the online portal for membership registration, which has been shut by the CMC for the last 10 days, be opened. While Sahota could not be contacted on the matter, mayor Subhash Singh said they’ll first operationalise the newly-built Biswanath Pandit Central Library at Palamandap and then the civic body will discuss this issue with the Housing and Urban Development department. Till reports last came in, the protest was still underway.