Employees of Asiatic Society of Mumbai urge Centre to take over institution

Mumbai, Sep 19 (PTI) The employees’ union of the 220-year-old Asiatic Society of Mumbai on Thursday urged the Centre to take over the institution citing its "poor upkeep".
    The society and its library are located in the Town Hall, a grand heritage structure with spectacular steps, at Horniman Circle in south Mumbai. It is a treasure of books, periodicals, ancient manuscripts, painted folios, artefacts, maps and prints.

    According to the Asiatic Society Of Mumbai Employees Union (ASMEU), the managing committee has failed to follow up with the Union government to get the status of “an institution of national importance” for the society.

    In a press conference at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh in the Fort area, ASMEU president Prakash Reddy accused the managing committee of failing to raise funds for the maintenance of the library and the society’s activities.

    Reddy said there is a possibility of serious damage to the rare and precious books and other things in the library due to the “inefficient” managing committee and "paucity" of funds.

    “The future of the society is dark due to its inefficient managing committee, and more so due to its incompetent office-bearers, who are interested mainly in growing their networks through event management than doing anything constructive for the institution,” Reddy claimed.

    He also demanded salary as per the 7th pay commission for the 25 employees of the society who are currently receiving pay as per the 6th pay commission. That too is not being paid fully, he said.

    Reddy also demanded a corpus of Rs 50 crore to ensure a steady income for the society. Of this amount, the Centre should give Rs 30 crore and the state Rs 20 crore, he said.

    “We also urge the government of Maharashtra to formally request the Union Ministry of Culture to take over the responsibility of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai for the preservation of 220 years of legacy for future generation,” he said.
    Sir James Mackintosh, the chief and recorder of the erstwhile Bombay on November 26, 1804, had set up the Asiatic Society and its library, which have been located in the Fort area since 1833.

    The library has 2.8 lakh books and bound volumes of periodicals since the 15th century. It possesses some rare artefacts, including the 16th-century Sanskrit work ‘Aranyaka Parvan’ of the Mahabharata and the original Italian manuscript of Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ and Suryasiddhanta, a book on astronomy.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)