HYDERABAD: Since 2014, the number of libraries in Hyderabad has come down from 91 to 83. “If there is no funding, more libraries will have to be shut down,” an official from the City Grandhalaya Samstha, who wished to be anonymous, said. He added that the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) owes over Rs 630 crore to the libraries.
After the financial year 2011-12, the corporation stopped paying them library cess.
“Because of their negligence, the libraries in Hyderabad are poorly maintained, while many are on the verge of being permanently shut down. We had to close seven public libraries in the last five years. The public libraries at AC Guards and Himayatnagar were closed as we could not afford the rent. The other libraries had to be shut down as the buildings were in a dilapidated condition,” the official said.
“Every year, the corporation should pass on 8 per cent of its property tax, which is collected as library cess, to the libraries in the city. But that has been stopped,” the official said.
He further said that the District Purchase Committee got diluted after the formation of the State, which caused the book purchases to nosedive.
“Now, we are only purchasing books that the students need,” the official added. The financial condition of some libraries in the city is so grim that they do not have funds to buy newspapers every day.
There are a total of 571 libraries across the State, of which 83 are located in Hyderabad. “Thankfully, the new GHMC Commissioner has been allocating funds to libraries since the past two months in small instalments, of Rs 15 lakh. We are using the funds to renovate libraries at Khairatabad, Mangalhat, Ramanthapur and Patelaburj,” said the official.
However, it is not enough as there are many libraries which are functioning from rented buildings. Also, there are a few that are in a dilapidated condition. “We do not have funds to preserve books in a proper manner,” added the official.
Books in Telangana libraries to be digitised soon
The Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) has been planning since 2017 to digitise books and manuscripts preserved at the State-owned libraries in Telangana.
But the proposal was only recently approved by the Directorate of Public Libraries. In this wake, a training programme would soon be conducted at City Central Library at Ashok Nagar, informed P Prasanna, chairman of City Grandhalaya Samstha.
“A total of 50 persons will be a part of digital literacy course in the first batch. It will likely begin in the coming months,” she said. By the end of the training,
Over 100 employees would be trained in digital literacy course. “They will help us digitise lakhs of books housed in the libraries across the State. The digitised books will be open to public access at local libraries and on the websites,” informed Prasanna.