Nagpur: It was Government Medical College and Hospital’s golden Jubilee in 2007 when Dr Sunil Deshmukh, the then minister of state for finance and an alumnus of GMCH , had assured financial support of Rs4 crore for building a state-of-art e-library at the premises. Dr Vibhavari Dani was the dean of the hospital then.11 years and five deans later, a fully functional e-library is still far from completion. Since the exit of Dr Dani, Dr SK Bokate, Dr Deepti Dongaonkar, Dr Rajaram Powar and present dean Dr Abhimanyu Niswade have assumed the position.The project took off in December 2009 when medical education minister Vijay Kumar Gavit laid down the foundation stone for the building on December 22. But work on the project actually started only in February 2011. The library has been constructed across 4000 sq metre, which was formerly NCC ground. The inauguration took place nearly four years ago, but the only change that has taken place since then is the shifting of old books and furniture to the new premises. Indexing of books, digitization of journals, more staff, and new furniture are only some of the things that need to be looked upon.When TOI visited the library, the administrative block with issue counter was bare, with no equipment nor employee. The reading area was occupied by few students with most of them reading from their own books. The discussion room was empty, yet its lights and fans were on. Two computer labs are present at the library, on the ground floor and the first floor. The lab in the first floor has almost never been used, more so because of the old linux operating system installed in the computers. Three halls designed for CME activity and video conferencing, remain bare. Due to lack of equipment, the idea hasn’t materialized. Only old furniture and old books exist at this new library. No new journals have been ordered for the past three years, informs a source. Moreover, thesis from the year 2003 to 2013 are also absent in the library. Of the 35 computers, at least four remain non-functional. There are over 55,000 books on record. But over the years, one-fourth of the books have already been discarded, says a source.When asked, dean Niswade said that a library this spacious wasn’t needed by the college, and called it a ‘conceptualization error’. “An e-library should all the more require less space. The work has been prolonged due to increase in construction cost,” he said. A timeline for the library’s completion is yet to be ascertained as the work is pending with PWD, said Niswade, but added that it will take six more months. He also said that PWD began the work only after the High Court rapped the institution for not having made progress on the e-library. “The project was proposed at rs5 crore, the construction cost went up to Rs8 crore and now the total project cost is somewhere near Rs25 crore. A sanctioned proposal worth Rs6.5 crore for digitization and furniture is now with the PWD. PWD has floated tenders and has asked quotations from standard companies,” said Niswade.

Stay updated with all the Latest Nagpur headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.