PANJIM: History and Heritage enthusiast Sanjeev V Sardesai has written to the Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude, seeking his urgent intervention towards non-working of central air-conditioning (AC) in thec, which in Sardesai’s words, ‘will lead to an avoidable destruction of priceless literature, documents & periodicals, besides being a serious health hazard to visitors and staff’.
He criticised the manner in which the central AC has not been maintained to ensure that it is in working condition despite it being part of such a prestigious complex and that this has forced hundreds of library users to have a horrible experience. He said that huge public funding goes into maintaining such facilities and the private service contractors take criminal advantage of the inefficiencies and bureaucracies, at various levels.
“Kindly intervene urgently to stop the decay of these treasured items, by summoning the contractor, who is hiding behind Covid reasons for his staff shortage. If he cannot use his staff, then the principal company should be ordered to carry out repairs. In case they fail to address a failure of their machinery, procured with the public exchequers money of the hard earned tax payers, in a respectably stipulated time frame, then they should be publicly shamed and blacklisted by the Goa Government,” said Sardesai.
Pointing out that the AC has not been functioning for four years Sardesai told Herald that if it’s not repaired, there will be systematic destruction of priceless literature, through pure lethargy and bureaucratic failure.
Sardesai said he had sent the letter to the Minister and other authorities concerned on behalf of all the people who visit the Central Library as the priceless and treasured heritage of Goa needs to be saved.
He pointed out that Goa’s Central Library has the pride of being a host to extremely rare and rich literature, dating back to the 16th century.
“However, it is extremely shocking and sad to state that though the Central Library complex is a visible tangible edifice of pride ‘from the outside’; the interiors portray a very harrowing story of pains & rigors. It is indeed an inferno to sit and avail its facilities, due to increased summer heat, monsoon humidity coupled with the non-working of the central ac unit,” Sardesai added.
He then explained how the multi-storeyed building has and sectioned floors for various library users that includes a ‘Periodical Area’, ‘Rare Books’ section amongst others as well as an ‘Extremely Rare’ documents/ periodicals section on the top floor.
However, he lamented that the central AC facility of the huge complex has been left unattended and has been totally non-functional, even much before the onset of the Covid pandemic.
“This leads to the fully glass clad interiors, void of windows, to become a furnace to sit in. No revolving fans can be used, as they are liable to destroy the fragile pages. These uncomfortable conditions are having an immediate effect on the health of any visitor, and one gets a feeling of suffocation. It is a pity that the library staff has to work under such extreme conditions … and the sensitive books having to bear penance for an avoidable irregularity,” said Sardesai.
He further offered other recommendations that revolved around providing relief to library users and staff as well as steps to create public awareness, especially amongst the student community about the rich history that can be viewed at the library.
