A prominent old library in Uttarakhand in a shambles

Tehri (Uttarakhand), Mar 5 (ANI): Dev Suman State Library, a prominent library which dates back to the British era, lies in a shambles in Uttarakhand's Tehri district, after facing neglect from the authorities.

The library is the prominent one in this otherwise remote district and draws bibliophiles from far and wide. But due to the poor state of this library, the visitors find it difficult in locating the desired books.

Although the State Government has given grants for the procurement of books and manuals, there are not enough shelves to stock them. As a result, some of the pages of the books are lying across the floor of the library. The rats have also created havoc by chewing away some of these books.

Manoj Kumar, who works as a manager at the library complained of the budgetary constraint, which was the main hindrance in the upkeep of this library.

"Due to the budgetary constraints, we are unable to buy new cupboards and due to this, we have to stock the books in double layers. Due to this, the students who come here face difficulty in taking out the books. There is also a possibility of rats and termites eating away the old books. Maximum we can do is to spray Baygon spray to keep them at bay. Some of the books are as old as 200-300 years. But the books should be microfilmed to save them from further deterioration. If there is computerization of this library, we will be able to provide better service," said Kumar.

On other hand Meenu, a schoolteacher, who is a regular in the library said that there should be more space to make reading comfortable.

Some of the books which library stocks include the Gazettes of erstwhile united provinces, rare dictionaries, yearbooks, almanacs, administrative reports of Tehri administration and books on Ayurveda by Charak.

Maharaja (King) Narendra Shah established the library on October 7, 1923. It was named Dev Suman State Library in 1974. In the year 2000, it was shifted to its current location. By Ashish Goel (ANI)