Historical collections at the Goa State Central Library have survived the vagaries of nature and time but tangled red tape and bureaucratic delay in acquiring air conditioning systems may consign them to the dustbin of history.
For instance, a sole copy of a book published in 1782 weathered the heat of conquests and the Liberation movement but it is withering away due to the heat, mildew and extreme humidity. Books in the Portuguese section on the 6th floor are treasures but lack of ventilation or AC is turning them brittle, very soon they would crumble to dust, termites are making things worse. As per the library’s curator, PWD had floated the AC tender thrice but no suitable vendor came forward to execute the job. Matters are aggravated by the flawed design of the library facade itself which is dominated by glass not suitable to tropical climes. There is a school of thought which believes that all this is being done by design by the saffron sarkar to erase Portuguese (they were invaders and destroyed our temples?) history from collective memory and replace it with an imagined glorious Hindu past.
