Shawdesh desk:

Out of the seven libraries that are supposed to serve nearly 43 lakh people in the Dhaka South City Corporation, only five are functional, and that too with a small number of books on their shelves.

Five of these libraries have a collection of some 500 books each while they are hardly visited by readers since Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

The libraries, which have stopped subscribing to daily newspapers, now don’t open regularly.

Ashraf Uddin Kabir, who runs the Zahir Raihan Sanskritik Kendro Pathagar in Sutrapur and the Tajuddin Smriti Pathagar in Wari, said that the Zahir Raihan Pathagar has around 500 books, mostly collected on a personal initiative.

‘Since the opening of the library in 2010, the DSCC has provided less than 100 books. I have collected the rest of the books from publication houses and individual donors,’ Ashraf said.

All the libraries, except for Tajuddin Smriti Pathagar, have not seen a single visitor in between February 24 to March 2.

Ashraf Uddin, librarian of Tajuddin Smriti Pathagar, and Md Zahidul Amin, librarian of Northbrook Hall Library, said that before the Covid-19 pandemic, people used to visit them mostly to read newspapers.

‘The libraries stopped subscribing to newspapers since the covid-19 pandemic broke out, and visitors also stopped coming,’ said Ashraf Uddin.

Most people don’t know these days when libraries open, and librarians open them randomly.

A staff working in the building of the Zahir Raihan Cultural Centre said that the library usually remains open between 3:00pm or 4:00pm until around 7:00 pm.

However, the libraries are supposed to remain open from 2:00 pm to 8:00pm, according to the DSCC schedule.

There are 105 books in Rokanpur Library, 500 in Mufti Maulana Din Mohammad Islami Library at Lalbag, and 4,634 in Tajuddin Smriti Pathagar.

The historic Northbrook Hall Library, established in 1882, has been shifted to the second floor of the Farashganj Diabetic Samity in Farashganj, as the library was sealed off in 2017 after the building was declared derelict.

‘Of 3,600 books, including some rare ones from the British era, the library has 1,200 books on two bookshelves. The rest are kept in sacks,’ said librarian Md Zahidul.

Haji Khalil Sardar Library in Hazaribagh Park and Nawabganj Park Library in Nawabganj Park remained closed for around two years due to construction at the parks.

The libraries have about 1,000 books together, said Abu Hena Mohammad Manjurul Ahsan, librarian of Haji Khalil Sardar Library, Nawabganj Park Library, and Mufti Maulana Din Mohammad Islami Library.

DSCC Social Welfare and Slum Development Officer Akand Mohammad Faisal Uddin said that the city corporation allocated Tk 20 lakh for the purchase of books in 2022–2023.

‘We would purchase books on Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the 1971 War of Independence,’ he said.

‘We also submitted a proposal to purchase reading tables, chairs, and bookshelves for the libraries. However, there is no allocation for newspaper subscriptions yet,’ he added.

In 2022, DSCC mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh inaugurated another library named Azimpur Nagar Pathaghar at the capital’s Azimpur bus stand, but the library has still not opened to the public.

The three-storey building has a public toilet on the ground floor and the library on the second floor.

DSCC Public Relations Officer and Spokesperson Abu Naser said that the formulation of a public library management policy was in progress.

‘Once the policy formulation is complete, the library will be handed over to the DSCC Social Welfare Department,’ he said.

He said that the library was built over the public toilet as there was a lack of space in Dhaka.