Riyaz Bhat
Srinagar: The School education department has miserably failed to construct 87 per cent out of 762 sanctioned libraries in Jammu and Kashmir in the last one decade.
According to government documents, since the academic year 2009-10 to 2019-20, the government has sanctioned at least 762 libraries for the schools of Jammu and Kashmir. However, official figures available reveal that the construction was yet to begin in 664 libraries while only 73 structures were completed and 25 were still under construction.
The figures reveal that in the academic year 2009-10, a total of 37 libraries were approved for the government schools of Jammu and Kashmir, however, the School Education Department has completed construction of only 21 while five are still under construction and work in 11 libraries have not been started yet.
Similarly, eight libraries were sanctioned in 2010-11 out of which construction in seven structures has been completed while the work on one library is yet to be started.
Likewise, in the academic year 2011-12, at least 104 libraries were approved. However, the construction of 55 libraries has not been started, 42 have been completed and seven are under construction.
In the academic year 2016-17, the government had sanctioned construction for 144 libraries out of which construction in 128 libraries is yet to be started while only three have been completed and 13 are still under construction.
Official figures further reveal that during the academic year 2019-20, a total of 469 libraries were approved by the government and ironically construction for no library was started till date—(KNO)
