Tehri library needs a home

Tehri library needs a home

Raju Gusain
Dehra Dun, October 17

It is a different case of rehabilitation related to the Tehri Dam. The rehabilitation of a displaced library!

The 'Captain Shoorveer Singh Panwar Library', located at the erstwhile Tehri palace, was established in the 1860s. The Late Shoorveer Panwar, famous historian, played a key role in developing the library. The Tehri Palace had over a hundred rooms but for academicians and research scholars, the library was the ultimate destination.

And there was reason for it! As the Library, with over one hundred rare handwritten manuscripts dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries, and thousands of other books related to the region, was considered legendary in the whole of Uttaranchal.

Things changed for the worse for this historic library' in 1999 when the Tehri Palace was demolished, for the Tehri Dam project thus forcing the Panwar family to shift the entire collection to Dehra Dun, some, six-years ago. Presently, the library is not functioning in the absence of infrastructure.
Bhawani Panwar, grandson of Shoorveer Panwar, told HT, "We had over one hundred rooms at the Tehri Palace. So, earlier we had no problem in operating and managing the library. My late grandfather wanted the library to function in Tehri. So we are seeking support of the State Government to help us to revive the fortunes of this historic library."

The Panwar family has approached the Tehri administration many times to provide space for and adopt other measures to save the library but without any success. Family members charge the district administration with not showing any interest in preserving this priceless piece of heritage. And, the six-year struggle of the Panwar library clearly indicates the apathy.

When approached, Sanjay Kumar, Director of Tehri Dam Rehabilitation, could only say, "I have just taken over charge in Tehri and have no idea about the ' Shoorveer Panwar Library' and issue concerning it."

The Panwar family does not want the library to be an all 'Sarkari' affairs but a joint public-private partnership. They are advocating about setting up a trust, managed equally by the Panwar family, state government and local people.

Hindustan Times
New Delhi edition (Late City)
October 18, 2005

Raju Gusain Dehra Dun, April 18
Over two hundred rare manuscripts from Uttarakhand are all set to receive a new lease of life. The National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) has begun preservation of 225 historic manuscripts of the 'Captain Shoorveer Singh Panwar Library in the state capital.
complete report:
http://uttarakhandnews.blogspot.com

It's heartwarming to know that the priceless heritage is being preserved. I think "digitizing" the manuscripts will also be a good option so as to save them without any wear and tear. And the next step would be putting them on the web and providing access to genuine researchers.

Rajugusain, How is this article relevant to IM, Granted , it has some historical connotations, but it seems it is again authored by You. If you did not write this article, would you still consider it worthy of posting on IM.

Last time arnd, You posted about some tall tree and ad guy article. That was nt relevant to the forum too.(I knw, many things are not related to Travel here and that is one of the reasons that I love IM, But they are threads and not articles .)