Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation to breathe life into libraries

WARANGAL: After years of neglect, Warangal’s central and regional libraries are set to get a makeover.

The Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC) has taken up a project, which involves fixing the roofs of the buildings, replacing age-old furniture and providing basic infrastructure, at an estimated cost of Rs 6.5  crore to give the bookhouses a facelift under the Smart City Mission.

According to sources, there are two major libraries in the district - Warangal (Urban) District Central Library, established at the Public Garden in 1961, and the Government Regional Library, established opposite the Warangal Central Prison in 1964.

Despite having several small and regional bookhouses under their jurisdiction, both the libraries have been in a pathetic condition due to the apathy of authorities concerned. When The New Indian Express went around and interacted with a few sources, it is learnt that several small libraries in the district did not even have proper buildings to function from, while those which had were either in a dilapidated condition or were facing shortage of furniture.

As a result, hundreds of hardcover, leather-bound and other books are either partially damaged or permanently destroyed. It may be mentioned here that the central and regional libraries usually witness a daily footfall of about 500 to 600 readers, with half of them being students who visit the libraries to read newspapers or to pick up books for competitive examinations.

Though each library houses at least 70,000 books, the authorities hadn’t been adding new arrivals to the collections, discouraging the readers from visiting the bookhouses.

Digitisation underway

Speaking to The New Indian Express, the gazetted librarian of Government Regional Library, M Alivelu, said that though the readers were previously welcomed by broken furniture and dusty books, the situation has been improving slowly, thanks to the initiatives of the GWMC authorities.

"Due to poor lighting in various sections, the readers used to struggle a lot. During monsoon, rainwater would ooze out of the ceiling, posing grave threat to our priceless collections. We thank the GWMC officials for deciding to give the libraries a facelift. As part of the project, the Corporation provided new furniture and books. They also commenced digitisation of books for the sake of the readers. The authorities are now focused on improving the infrastructure at the libraries, for which they are carrying out repair works on the buildings," he added.

The authorities are developing libraries at two places. Mentioning that the works on the regional library are nearing completion, the authorities informed Express that they will take up renovation works on the central library soon.