Shillong:
Though the Meghalaya Assembly has a well-stocked library, legislators hardly use it to avail various services offered in the discharge of legislative functions.
The revelation was made in a report prepared recently by the library committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly which expressed concern at the under-utilisation of the facility.
The report rues the fact that very few of the 60 elected representatives have ever stepped into the library which is primarily meant to cater to the needs of legislators 'in the discharge of their functions'.
The committee, chaired by Opposition NCP MLA J M Marak said, "The committee invites all the members to visit the library whose main function is to render reference service to MLAs".
Set up in 1972, soon after Meghalaya achieved statehood, the library at the Assembly secretariat houses over 10,000 books covering a wide range of subjects including law and parliamentary affairs, history, economics, political science, sociology, literature, fiction and non-fiction novel sections.
"Reports of different committees and commissions, Central and State acts, rules and regulations, gazettes of state government, debates of Indian legislature etc, are included in the library collection," the committee said in its report presented in the Assembly recently.
Besides books, periodicals, newspapers, special collections, North-East collection, souvenirs, reports and biographies, the library also has a separate 'Gandhiana' section, which comprises books by, on, and about Mahatma Gandhi. However, a major portion of this collection was destroyed in the fire that engulfed the old assembly building at Police Bazar here in 2001.
"Information materials are kept ready in anticipation of topics that are likely to come up for discussion in the Assembly. This serves to save to a great extent the valuable time of the members," the report noted.
Meant primarily for the MLAs, facilities are also extended to Assembly staff and the government secretariat. Former MLAs, officers and staff as well as students and research scholars are also allowed to use the resources of the library at the discretion of the officer- in-charge and no subscription is charged in this regard.
The revelation was made in a report prepared recently by the library committee of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly which expressed concern at the under-utilisation of the facility.
The report rues the fact that very few of the 60 elected representatives have ever stepped into the library which is primarily meant to cater to the needs of legislators 'in the discharge of their functions'.
The committee, chaired by Opposition NCP MLA J M Marak said, "The committee invites all the members to visit the library whose main function is to render reference service to MLAs".
Set up in 1972, soon after Meghalaya achieved statehood, the library at the Assembly secretariat houses over 10,000 books covering a wide range of subjects including law and parliamentary affairs, history, economics, political science, sociology, literature, fiction and non-fiction novel sections.
"Reports of different committees and commissions, Central and State acts, rules and regulations, gazettes of state government, debates of Indian legislature etc, are included in the library collection," the committee said in its report presented in the Assembly recently.
Besides books, periodicals, newspapers, special collections, North-East collection, souvenirs, reports and biographies, the library also has a separate 'Gandhiana' section, which comprises books by, on, and about Mahatma Gandhi. However, a major portion of this collection was destroyed in the fire that engulfed the old assembly building at Police Bazar here in 2001.
"Information materials are kept ready in anticipation of topics that are likely to come up for discussion in the Assembly. This serves to save to a great extent the valuable time of the members," the report noted.
Meant primarily for the MLAs, facilities are also extended to Assembly staff and the government secretariat. Former MLAs, officers and staff as well as students and research scholars are also allowed to use the resources of the library at the discretion of the officer- in-charge and no subscription is charged in this regard.
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