Bhim Library, the oldest in Dolakha, struggles for existence

By Babu Ram Sharma,Dolakha, Jan. 30: Bhim Library, the oldest library in Bhimeshwar Municipality of Dolakha, is now struggling for its existence. The library which had remained neglected in the past was completely damaged by the 2015 earthquake, informed Tirtha Narayan Joshi, acting president of the library. 

According to Joshi, the building of Bhim Library established in 1967 in Ward No 2 of Bhimeshwar Municipality was destroyed by the earthquake. After that no one had shown any interest in rebuilding the library and had not received any information on its property, he added. 

The remnants of the library building and its books had been left unattained, he said. Informing that he became acting president of the library when Ravi Bhakta Shrestha was the president, he said that the library had received 8,000 books from Kathmandu, Dolakha, former District Development Committee and Education Office. 

But no one knows about the books at the moment, he added.  In the past, the library was popular and it used to receive newspapers from North Korea, Germany, China, and others. Joshi said that they had to shift the  library from one place to another before Gyan Krishna Shrestha, a local, donated land for the construction of the library building. 

After the construction of the building, it was functioning well with full support from land owner Shrestha, Bharat Bahadur Shrestha and Atmakrishna Shrestha. He said that the library had been in a state of disrepair after they left.

Joshi said that the current land of the library was not enough for its operation. They had asked for its operation by finding additional land and its property. Ward chair Stalin Shrestha informed that an interest in reopening the library had increased, and he would try to find the property of the library. 

It had been reported that the books were kept in the room of the Cottage and Small Industries Development Office, he added.  "I will proceed to search and protect the library property. I am also taking an initiative to find a proper place to re-operate the library" he said.