Kolkata Spiders crafting cobwebs on a record maintained at Fort William in 1863. A copy of a census of the population of Calcutta in 1770 gathering dust at one corner of a dingy and damp room. An atlas of Calcutta made by historian James Rennell in 1779-81 lies in tatters.
This is what one finds at the library under the land and land reforms department at the Writers’ Buildings, thanks to the neglect of both the Left Front and the incumbent Trinamool Congress government.
The library houses books, documents, records, maps and other materials from the days prior to the arrival of Job Charnock, regarded as one of the founders of Calcutta. According to experts, parts of the collection are comparable with those in the Library ofCongress in the US, British Museum in London, Khuda Baksh Library of Patna and National Library of Kolkata.
In fact, it was the land and land reforms department that the British first set up for revenue collection and distribution of ownership of land among the people. Started in Fort William in 1740, the library was later shifted to Writers’ Buildings, which was built in 1776. At present it is located in a sprawling hall measuring 578.27 sq metres on the ground floor of Writers’.
The collection includes 34,500 rare documents and books, district gazetteer of 1800, Calcutta gazette of 1700, printed records after the Sepoy Mutiny (1857), proceedings of the legislative council during the Raj, proceedings of the state Assembly from 1937 — when it was set up - to 1980-82.
Since no stock-taking has ever taken place in the library and numerous documents remained unexamined, nobody has any idea how many invaluable documents have been lost to neglect.
Once in a while, researchers and officials from various government departments use this library manned by one librarian and two employees. However, since no cataloguing has ever been done, it is difficult to locate documents.
In 2007, The Indian Express first wrote about the plight of the library. At that time A K Patnaik, then commissioner general of land and land reforms, who also happened to be then principal secretary of sports, gave Rs 1 lakh from the sports department budget to the library. There has been no more government assistance since then.
After the Trinamool government took over, librarian Mita Rani Ghosh did something very unusual. She went to the residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Kalighat and told her about the condition of the library.
Thereafter, Ghosh wrote a letter to Mamata on June 7, 2011, as to how the library can be upgraded. On September 13, Alpana Saha, assistant secretary in the land and land reforms department, wrote to Ghosh that the matter was being looked into. There has been no development since then.
Researchers say the library needs urgent attention. “I have seen invaluable records, particularly after the mutiny (1857), in the library. But they are in a shambles,” Benoy Bhishan Choudhury, former professor of history at Calcutta University, told The Indian Express.
This is what one finds at the library under the land and land reforms department at the Writers’ Buildings, thanks to the neglect of both the Left Front and the incumbent Trinamool Congress government.
The library houses books, documents, records, maps and other materials from the days prior to the arrival of Job Charnock, regarded as one of the founders of Calcutta. According to experts, parts of the collection are comparable with those in the Library ofCongress in the US, British Museum in London, Khuda Baksh Library of Patna and National Library of Kolkata.
In fact, it was the land and land reforms department that the British first set up for revenue collection and distribution of ownership of land among the people. Started in Fort William in 1740, the library was later shifted to Writers’ Buildings, which was built in 1776. At present it is located in a sprawling hall measuring 578.27 sq metres on the ground floor of Writers’.
The collection includes 34,500 rare documents and books, district gazetteer of 1800, Calcutta gazette of 1700, printed records after the Sepoy Mutiny (1857), proceedings of the legislative council during the Raj, proceedings of the state Assembly from 1937 — when it was set up - to 1980-82.
Since no stock-taking has ever taken place in the library and numerous documents remained unexamined, nobody has any idea how many invaluable documents have been lost to neglect.
Once in a while, researchers and officials from various government departments use this library manned by one librarian and two employees. However, since no cataloguing has ever been done, it is difficult to locate documents.
In 2007, The Indian Express first wrote about the plight of the library. At that time A K Patnaik, then commissioner general of land and land reforms, who also happened to be then principal secretary of sports, gave Rs 1 lakh from the sports department budget to the library. There has been no more government assistance since then.
After the Trinamool government took over, librarian Mita Rani Ghosh did something very unusual. She went to the residence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Kalighat and told her about the condition of the library.
Thereafter, Ghosh wrote a letter to Mamata on June 7, 2011, as to how the library can be upgraded. On September 13, Alpana Saha, assistant secretary in the land and land reforms department, wrote to Ghosh that the matter was being looked into. There has been no development since then.
Researchers say the library needs urgent attention. “I have seen invaluable records, particularly after the mutiny (1857), in the library. But they are in a shambles,” Benoy Bhishan Choudhury, former professor of history at Calcutta University, told The Indian Express.
Suvaprasanna, chairman of the State Heritage Commission, said he was not aware of the existence of the institution at Writers’ Buildings. “I will bring it to the notice of the highest authorities,” he said.
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