PANAJI
The Curator of the Goa State Central Library has told the Bombay High Court at Goa that no books, manuscripts or documents have been damaged due to the non-functioning AC in the Library.
The High Court was hearing the suo motu writ petition taken up on the basis of reports of the AC being non functional for the last several months.
In his affidavit before the Court, the Curator informed that “as of date no books, manuscripts or other documents have been damaged as a result of the non-functioning of air conditioners.”
At the hearing the Advocate General told the High Court that a contractor has already been appointed to carry out the air-conditioning works and that “the time limit for completing air-conditioning works is 90 days and therefore, by March 2024 the air-conditioning works would be completed.”
In November, the Bombay High Court at Goa had taken suo motu cognizance of multiple news reports that brought to light how the air conditioners (ACs) of the Goa State Central Library have not been working since the year 2019 posing a threat to the more than 40,000 rare books and documents that lie within the Library.
The High Court noted how, if the reports were true, though the problem of non functioning ACs surfaced almost four years ago, “it is yet to be sorted out.”
“We get a prima facie impression that the state and its authorities are not acting with utmost dispatch to ensure that this problem of non-functioning ACs is sorted out at the earliest and there is no further damage to this priceless heritage,” the High Court also said.
The Advocate General also pointed out that the process of digitization of old and rare books and documents is in progress.
He pointed out that this is a continuous process for large and a separate cell has been constituted. “As on date 2,43,834 pages of old and rare books have been scanned,” the advocate general said.
The Advocate General also told the court that there is a proposal for large-scale digitization of old and rare documents/records and M/s Info Tech Corporation of Goa Limited is proposed to be involved for this project.
“The State of Goa has also approved to opt for the Document Management System (DMS) of M/s Info Tech Corporation of Goa Limited (ITC) for uploading scanned data/documents. He pointed out that once the documents are scanned they will be hosted on the in-house server of Goa State Central Library,” the AG said.
The matter has been posted for hearing in the first week of February next year.
