Hardayal Municipal Heritage Public Library in Chandni Chowk, Delhi. , Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
Gangaram, an attendant at the Hardayal Municipal Public Library in Chandni Chowk, has been on strike along with his colleagues since June last year over his outstanding salary. The staff of the library have not been paid for the last 22 months.
“I am unable to meet the daily needs of my family and the bills are piling up. I have to continue protesting as no one else is going to help us. I have worked here for 20 years. This situation has left me and others in the library quite helpless,” said Mr. Gangaram.
Mr Gangaram’s aide Ashok Chowdhary explained why the employees of the 163-year-old library have been protesting for nearly seven months, even as their hopes of getting their due salaries are dwindling by the day. strike, the authorities would go ahead and lock the library. Therefore, we are left with no option but to reduce our office expenses from our ever-shrinking savings to demand our dues.
Financial Crisis
The library functions on an annual grant from the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which is a little over Rs 4 crore. However, according to acting librarian Rajendra Singh Jatav, a grant for the current financial year is pending, while an additional ₹2.26 crore from the previous financial year is yet to be received.
In August last year, the civic body disbursed ₹50 lakh, out of a pending amount of a little over ₹2 crore, to the library, which was used to pay pending salaries of up to three months to its staff. However, the employees said that the amount they received was very less.
Rajendra Singh Jatav, officiating librarian of Hardayal Municipal Heritage Public Library. , Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma
fund exhausted
When Hindu Visited the library, which opens from 8 am to 10 pm, only the reading room was open to visitors. Despite all odds, Mr. Jatav keeps the doors open, he says, to give civil service aspirants a place to study.
Looking at the library documents, Mr. Jatav said, “I don’t think we will be able to pay the electricity bills after the next few months.” He said he saved a portion of the money distributed last August to keep the library running and pay for maintenance costs. But he feared that even this meager amount would soon run out.
“I don’t have money for my children’s education. Most of my colleagues are on strike, except for a few employees who are helping to maintain the library in good faith,” Mr Jatav said.
Amit Kumar, MCD’s director for press and information, said the grant due to the library remains unpaid largely due to the civic body’s financial woes. He said that efforts are being made to ensure that the salaries are disbursed at the earliest. However, he did not give any timeline for this.
“We are working on an MoU between the library and the MCD to ensure better management of the library and avoid such hindrances in future,” Mr. Kumar said.