Sree Hindi Sahitya Samiti of Bharatpur struggles for survival

Jaipur, May 5 (UNI) The famous Sree Hindi Sahitya Samiti of Bharatpur which was the torchbearer of freedom movement in Northern Rajasthan is in tatters, as the organisation has to auction off its properties for paying the dues of its employees.

Sree Hindi Sahitya Samiti was established in 1912. The organisation, had in that in March 1927, hosted 7th convention of Hindi Sahitya Sammelan, Prayag, which was attended among others by stalwarts like Guru Ravindranath Tagore, Pandit Madan Mohan Malavya.

Gurudev later wrote that he got the inspiration to write his famous poem ''Neel Mani Latha'' during his stay in Bharatpur.

The samiti's library which boast of about 28,000 books with about 2,000 rare manucripts has been a source of information to hundreds of research scholars.

Those were the hay days of the organisation which now struggles for its survival. Acting President Ram Babu Shukla said ''The bad days started with the previous state government's decision to impose an 80 per cent cut in grants in aid to such organisations.'' He said samiti could not manage the cost of salaries to employees and maintenance of its library with such huge cut in goverment help.

The five employees who were pushed to the verge of starvation approched courts for salaries and allowances directed the government to auction off the immovable properties of the samiti to pay off debt.

Two shops attached with the main building has already been auctioned off and now the organisation is left with its main building housing the library and hall. If the government did not come to the rescue of the cash strapped organisation it will die an inglorous death and the younger generation may miss an important link with our gloroius past, said Mr Shukla.

UNI