Students in Jaipur Protest Government's Decision to Demolish Public Library

Jaipur: Following orders issued by Rajasthan's department of information technology that its popular Soochana Kendra, or information centre – with library facilities used by students of modest means – be vacated by September 10, the government on Monday paved the way for the demolition of the 60-year-old building. A ‘fun city’ and ‘digital museum’ are to be constructed in its place.

Inaugurated by former president Zakir Hussain in 1959, the centre had two separate libraries for girls and boys, mostly occupied by students coming from nearby village areas preparing for various competitive exams. It was also a repository of local dailies. No fee was charged from visitors seeking access to newspapers, books and other research material available.

On Monday, dozens of students who used these libraries led a protest against the demolition outside the centre. Coming from poor families, this free government establishment was the only place they could peacefully study all day, they said.

“In our two-room houses with dozens of family members, there is no separate place for us to study. That's why we come here, to the library, every day at 9:30 am and leave at 6:30 pm. We were thinking of requesting the department to open it even on Saturdays and Sundays, because it’s really difficult for us to work at home. But now it seems our studies will suffer permanently,” Bhawana, a Rajasthan Administrative Service aspirant from the Nahargarh area who has been studying in the information centre library for the past two years, told The Wire.

“Already, students have the burden of paying rent, coaching fees and transportation charges. At this point, we really can’t afford to pay the additional fee of a private library,” she added.

Police guarding the information centre on Monday.

There is one more government library in Jaipur’s Chaura Rasta area, but students say it doesn’t have proper facilities.

“The Chaura Rasta library is very small and it doesn’t have a good environment for students to concentrate. Even basic facilities like chairs are not available. Moreover, one has to undergo a lot of formalities to get a library card there,” said Priyanka, another student who was present at the centre with the protestors.

The students aren't excited about the new place assigned for the library.

“Poddar School, where the information centre has been shifted, isn’t spacious or quiet. The same floor will be shared by the school and the library. So obviously it will be very noisy,” said Hari Narayan, a student from Ramgarh.

“Poddar School is very far from here and to reach there, one will need to change at least three buses, which means we will have to pay more for transportation,” said Prakash Sharma from Bassi village, who is preparing for the sub-inspectors exam.

However, the department maintains that this is just a temporary shift and says the centre will be restored in a few months.

Speaking to The Wire, Ravi Jain, secretary, Department of Information and Public Relations, Rajasthan, said, “This is a temporary shift of the information centre to Poddar School for maintenance work. All the facilities that were available here will be made available there also.”

The vacated library at the information centre.

The officials of the department present at the information centre to initiate the construction work on Monday showed The Wire a prototype of the new ‘fun city’ building, with demarcated areas for newspaper reading and separate libraries for boys and girls.

“I think the orders have been misinterpreted. It is clearly a temporary shift of the information centre until the new building gets ready here. The department had also undertaken the construction of the Bhamashah techno hub earlier and finished it within six months. Our target for this fun city construction is also nine months and the centre will be restored in a better condition,” Amita Shrivastava, a junior engineer with the department, told The Wire.

“We even renovated the rooms in Poddar School, where the information centre is to be temporarily shifted,” she added.

A single bench civil writ petition was filed before the Rajasthan high court by Dharampal Rawat, opposing the demolition of the information centre for the construction of the fun city, and the court had granted a stay. However, it was withdrawn soon after.

“The court was satisfied that it was a temporary shifting and the information centre would be restored after the construction is complete. It maintained that they are constructing on the vacant space and giving the centre back the same area it had, and hence dismissed the stay,” S.K. Gupta, additional advocate general, told The Wire.

The court had asked for an undertaking that the information centre would be restored, which the technical department provided on Wednesday.

However, the students are afraid that even if the library and newspaper reading area are given space in the new ‘fun city’, the same environment may not be restored.

“It is a calculated move by the Vasundhara Raje government to privatise the sole free library which students from poor families had access to, because if we secure government jobs, what will they give to the rich candidates?” said Meenakshi Bidoria, one of the students protesting the demolition of the information centre.

“We are quite sure that the fun city will become a picnic spot for the public, and the government will charge them per visitor. So the peaceful environment we had here to study will never be restored. For us, the information centre is demolished forever.”

All images by Shruti Jain.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.