Move comes after dna highlighted the precarious condition of the 30-yr-old building
After two dna reports highlighted the sorry state of the crumbling Jawaharlal Nehru Library at Kalina campus, the University of Mumbai has shifted the staff to another wing of the same building.
The reports had exposed the callousness of the vice chancellor Rajan Welukar and pro-vice chancellor Naresh Chandra, who had not taken any steps for the safety of their own staff who worked in the dilapidated hall.
The university has finally taken action and shifted the employees to a safer room.
All 12 people working in the 30-year-old D-wing of the building’s ground floor have been asked to vacate the unsafe hall on Saturday. Students too are not allowed to sit in the reading room where most book shelves are still lying.
They have now been shifted to the first floor, which is in a much better condition.
“We are happy and relieved now. We wish to thank dna for taking up our issue, which even our union had failed to do so,” said an employee, requesting anonymity.
Deep cracks developed in the all load bearing walls of the D-wing a few years ago. Some peeling walls have been propped up with the bamboo sticks to make them stable. Plasters from the ceiling have been peeling and falling. Fortunately, no one had been injured.
Bhujang Ahire, in-charge head of the library, confirmed the development. “The D-wing staff has been asked to shift to the first floor of another wing,” he said.
The university officials said the work on a new library would start soon. A total of Rs10crore has been allocated for the library which would come up in the Kalina campus.
The library, which is divided into central hall and A, B, C and D wings, was constructed in two phases. Central hall, A and B wings were built in 1975 while the C and D wings were built in 1984. The D wing, which was built later than the other wings, is in the worst condition and the staff suspect huge corruption in the project.
The three-storey structure houses over 7 lakh books, including 15,000 rare Chinese, Farsi, Sanskrit and Urdu manuscripts. Besides, microfilms dated back to the 1942 have been preserved here.
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