PATIALA: The 101-year-old Rajindra Victoria Diamond Jubilee Municipal Public Library situated near Quila Chowk here is in a state of utter neglect. There has been a rapid fall in the number of its members. The library would register at least 400 new members every year a few years ago but the number now has been reduced to less than 100.

The library is in dire straits. It is situated on the top floor of an old dilapidated two-storeyed building owned by the Municipal Corporation.

The lower floors are rented to shopkeepers. There is no parking place for persons going to the library. The path leading to the library stairs is often blocked by goods or vehicles of the shopkeeper. The steps are broken and the walls red with betel juice. the garbage on the stairs emanates intolerable stench.

The condition inside is worse. There are layers of dust on books and shelves. Opening a book can be precarious as wornout pages are easily torn. The walls, it seems, have not been white-washed for years. Cracks have appeared on the ceiling and the walls. The leaking roof has not only caused dampness but also destroyed many rare books.

At one time the library possessed many rare and old books, most of them in Urdu and Persian. According to Mr H.S. Sahni, and editor of a vernacular daily, researchers from far off places would visit the library in the eighties. But these rare books have now vanished.

While the library and the municipal authorities maintain that the books were given to the Punjab Archives, reliable source state that these had been destroyed by termites and the silver fish. The archives authorities did not confirm possessing the books.

The worst affected are the reading room and the children's section. Two almirahs, in which rare books are kept, are in a broken state. The books stored have been destroyed due to water seepage. There is no proper furniture for visitors to the reading room.

Similar is the condition of the children's section which has no proper lighting facility.
The library staff is also disturbed at the state of things. They say there is no proper drinking water facility of toilets. Though the municipality is responsible for the maintenance of the library, it is the staff which has to answer all complaints of readers. When demands for a photostat machine and the latest magazines and books are made, the staff has to cut a sorry figure.

Mrs Usha Goel, Librarian, says the library comes under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation which supplies the funds. 'We have written many times to the municipality and even the government about the dismal condition of the library and the threat to the staff due to the unsafe building. The government now proposes to shift the building to a new place but nothing concrete has happened in that direction', she says.

She said recently the Punjab Government had released a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the purchase of books.

According to sources, the grant has only increased the problems. For one, the library has no space for more books and the grant states that only books published in Punjabi are to be purchased. Further, only a fraction of the grant has been released so far.

An official of the Municipal Corporation said the lack of funds was the main reason for the dismal condition of the library. He said the building was unsafe and the municipality proposed to shift it soon.