NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar has instructed the civic administration to start the structural work as well as painting. (Representational)TO MAKE books easily available to slum residents, especially schoolchildren and youths, and encourage them to take up reading, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has decided to implement ‘Zopadpatti Tithe Library’, a project under which libraries will be set up at every the slum pocket in the city.
In the first phase of the project according to the NMMC, it will start building libraries in ten slums with the aim of stimulating an interest for reading in school-goers. An NMMC official said the implementation of the concept will be done in a phase-wise manner. A survey of the 10 slums, which have been earmarked for the first phase of the project, was recently conducted by the social development department of the corporation.
NMMC Commissioner Abhijit Bangar has instructed the civic administration to start the structural work as well as painting, both interior and exterior, at locations earmarked for the libraries at the earliest and has also sought creation of an attractive ambience at the libraries, which will lure children and the youth to these places and encourage them to take up reading.
While instructing civic officials concerned that each library should have an interior design and decoration with respect to the dimensions it is built on, the NMMC commissioner also directed that computers and printers should be arranged for proper management of the library. The civic chief has also directed that each library should have a clean toilet.
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The commissioner said the work on libraries at all the 10 earmarked slums would be carried out simultaneously over the next one month and the books would be selected keeping in view the population of each slum area.
“At present, there are a total of 19 libraries at different locations in Navi Mumbai and this initiative has been undertaken in order not to deprive the children and youth living in slums of libraries and the joyful habit of reading. The idea is that quality books should be made easily available for them at a place close to home,” an official said.
“Land has been allotted in the 10 designated slum areas, which are Indiranagar, Hanuman Nagar, Turbhe Store, Gautam Nagar and Panchsheelnagar, Katkaripada and Bhimnagar, Nosil Naka, Ramnagar, Ilthanpada, Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar and Shivaji Nagar. Libraries will open at these places in the first phase of the project,” the official added.
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