14th Library Day: The story of a tragic death of Itahari’s once-famous three-story public library

ITAHARI: AUGUST 31 – Today, Nepal marks its fourteenth Library Day. Commemorating the institutionalization of the library with librarian staff headed by Pandit Kedarnath Jha on 15 Bhadra 1869 BS, Nepal Government decided to observe Library Day on every Bhadra 15 (August 31) since 2008 AD.

King Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah, the great-grandson of Nepal’s unifier king Prithvi Narayan Shah, had instituted that concept with designated staff some 206 years ago.

Library Day ignites enthusiastic flames of reading culture all over Nepal. However, in Itahari, a transit city of State 1, this day dawns a memory worth forgetting. Readers, writers, poets and other library frequenters have brutal memory of the tragic death of a once-famous library in the town.

The antagonist to the tragic end of the library is none other than the people’s representatives themselves.

Dharanidhar Dahal, a noted journalist, researcher, literary figure, anthropologist, social and cultural activist, floated the concept of the public library in Itahari some 28 years ago in 2050 BS. His concept got an economic and emotional boost with the financial support of John Paul, a Luxembourgian philanthropist came in his assistance.

Paul gave his nod after Itahari’s local organizations like Itahari Literary Group led by Dharanidhahar Dahal, Nepal Red Cross Society led by Krishna Prasad Poudel and Raja Club led by Balkrishna Karki wrote a joint letter to his organization on 2 Ashar 2055 BS.

On 16 Ashar 2055, there was a tripartite agreement between contractor, engineer and coordinator to build the three-story building at the heart of Itahari square, just in front of Municipality premises.

The building was mainly a library with multipurpose activities. It was named ‘Cultural Centre’. The ground floor included the secretariat, first-aid center and the multi-media seminar hall. The first floor housed a library, multi-media meeting hall and sports gallery for youth. The second floor housed sections of stitching, tailoring, electric fixing, painting and English language learning classes.

When the library building was built within months, Dharanidhar Dahal donated some two thousand books of him to the library.

Just after the completion of the building, Itahari Municipality pressured local organizations like Itahari Literary Group, Nepal Red Cross Society and Raja Club which were meant to the major stakeholders from day one. However, Itahari municipality insisted on handing over the keys to the building.

”I had given the keys to my father”, remembered Gyanendra Dahal, the son of Dharanidhar Dahal and also an active member to institutionalize the building. He added, ”My father caved in to the pressure of the mayor (Sarbadhwaj Sanba). He dropped the key on the table of mayor.”

”Municipality betrayed the local organization and took it forcefully”, rued Dahal. He said his father laid the building’s foundation stone. However, the inauguration was done by Madhav Kumar Nepal, the then Secretary-General of CPN (UML). ”The central utilization of the building was bypassed thereafter.”

More trouble was exerted on the public library after the arrival of the new local government after the local elections of 2074 BS. Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City Office emptied the last remaining library hall and started to use that space for administrative purposes.

The building’s ground floor has been used as a shelter for the nearby Area Police Office. Likewise, other floors are used for vote-counting and administrative purposes only.

Laxmi Gautam, the deputy mayor, had promised to establish another separate building for the public library. This, however, is not materialized so far. Most of the books are either stolen or damaged owing to severe neglect, said Badri Bhikhari, a poet and also a campaigner of restoring the old library building in its own initial state.

”It is shame for a big city like Itahari to kill a vibrant library established from the sweat and labour of many civilians and support from abroad”, Bhikhari criticized, ”This is troubling.”

GB Gazal, a Ghazal writer from the city, also has the same opinion. He said it is a duty and responsibility for the people’s representatives to work for the greater good of the public. ”Destroying a public library and converting it into administrative building occupying library space putting valued books in tatters is not something we do expect from them”, said Gazal, ”All ward chairs, and the mayor and deputy mayor are responsible for this pathetic state of the public library in Itahari.’

Dewan Kirati, a poet and an entrepreneur of Itahari, said a public library is a must-have thing for any city. ”If we go for foreign cities, it is the library where we can have a clear picture about the history, culture and the future of the city”, said Kirati, ”But, in Itahari, we are sad to lose our library.” He said it would be a wise idea to digitize all books which are in tatters.

Sonu Jayanti, a theatre director and the cultural activist of Itahari who heads Kalalaya, a theatre in the city, also have a concern about the destroyed library.

”A city is not just the collection of concrete structure, it is also a soul with cultural, linguistic, literary legacies which is only possible to found in the places like the public library and cultural complex”, said Jayanti, ”Sadly, we lost both of them. We the city of more than two lakhs folks is compelled to have a personal library only. We had a public library and cultural building. Now, we do not. This pains me.”

He said it must be the first priority to revive the lost heritage of the city. For this, he emphasised, there needs to be public pressure and governmental support from both local and provincial governments.

-Birat Anupam/RSS