Ganderbal, September 01: Established in 1977, district Library Ganderbal continues to operate in rented rooms; besides, the space crunch in the library discourages its members to visit the place regularly.
Ali Mohamad Mir, a former Liberian, who used to work in the library said, “The Library was established in the year 1977 as Tehsil Library in a single room. Since then it has been shifted to half a dozen places. We approached many officials requesting them to provide a piece of land, but all in vain.”
With the help of former MLC, Sheikh Gulam Rasool, 1 Kanal of land was identified at old Physical Education College Ganderbal but unfortunately no progress was made to acquire the land,” he added.
Towseef Ahmad Rather a member of the Library said, “Library is lacking proper infrastructure as it is unable to cater to large visitors including students, academicians and book lovers. The Library also sans proper reading rooms and washroom.”
“The current location of the library is not in proximity to main town. Many people don’t even know that there is a library in Ganderbal which is due to reason that the library lacks a permanent space,” he added.
When contacted Director Department of Libraries and Research said, “Most of the libraries in Kashmir are working in rented buildings. If Ganderbal district administration will provide us the land, we are ready to construct a building for the library.”
