MYSURU: City Central Library chief librarian B Manjunath presented a budget of Rs 3.79 crore for the financial year 2019-20 on Saturday. The budget meeting was held at MCC meeting hall and presided by Pushpalatha Jagannath, ex-officio chairman of the libraries in Mysuru.Presenting the budget, Manjunath said the library is expecting a revenue of Rs 2.9 crore as library cess from Mysuru City Corporation (MCC), Rs 5 crore as library cess from Mysuru Urban Development Authority and a government subsidy of Rs 5 crore.The library is also expecting Rs 3.20 lakh from property rents, Rs 6.80 lakh from public donations and Rs 76.3 lakh from interest amount in banks, loans, EMD, membership deposits, security deposits, donations and others.However, the library is expected to spend Rs 3.79 crore in the financial year which includes Rs 60 lakh as salary for staff, various maintenance charges, rents and other office expenses, Rs 1.80 crore for purchasing books and journals, Rs 30 lakh for maintenance of buildings, and Rs 15 lakh each for maintenance and loans.Rs 17 crore library cess is dueSpeaking on the failure of the civic agencies to disburse funds for the maintenance and development of libraries, Manjunath said that MCC and MUDA , which collect library cess from public during property tax, are yet to pay Rs 17 crore.“MCC has to pay the pending amount of Rs 17 crore and MUDA has to pay Rs 6 lakh to city central library as library tax which they collected as part of property tax. We request MCC to pay Rs 25 lakh every month to library. Every month, I write a letter to both the civic agencies for the payment. Even the issue was discussed in Vidhana Soudha, but MUDA has failed to provide information even to the assembly,” he said.Manjunath said that every year, the city central library spends nearly Rs 35 lakh for newspapers, Rs 35 lakh for staff and Rs 75 lakh for maintenance. If the library department doesn’t get the cess amount, then it will be difficult for constructing new libraries and take up automation,” Manjunath told mayor Pusphalatha.Private agencies for maintenance?Manjunath said that as civic agencies are not providing the library cess amount, the department held a discussion on whether it’s possible to hand over the maintenance of libraries to private agencies. “The concept is new to the libraries. The department will provide library building, books and other facilities, but the maintenance will be given to private agencies through tender. As libraries do not get funds from government and has to depend on its own revenue, it has become difficult to run them as crores of rupees are pending with civic agencies,” he said.No money for construction of libraryManjunath said the contractor has warned that the construction of public library building at People’s Park will be stopped if the pending bill is not cleared by March-end. “The library building is being constructed with a cost of Rs 4.99 crore. The state government has sanctioned Rs 4 crore, the department has given Rs 25 lakh but Rs 75 lakh which should be given by MCC is still pending,” he said.Mayor Pushpalatha said she will discuss with MCC commissioner Shilpa Nag and the finance officer and decide on the payment of dues.

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