KARACHI, June 13: The city government has failed to spend the amount allocated for the purchase of books in the current financial year. Well-placed sources told Dawn that the culture department of the city government did not get the concurrence of the finance department for the purchase of books.

"The finance department always told the culture department that their cash flow was not smooth enough to allow them to release funds for the purpose. As a result, the funds remained unutilized. However, the culture department bought new books worth Rs84,000 in the last financial year," they recalled.

They explained that under the existing financial rules, only a category-I officer could purchase books for the city government. And the district coordination officer was the only category-I officer in the new local government set-up, they said.

They said that according to a draft budget, Rs300,000 would be spent on buying books in the coming financial year. The sources said that the city government, preoccupied with civic problems, had neither inclination nor time to take care of the libraries bequeathed by the now defunct Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.

The libraries, before the introduction of the LG system, were under the control of district municipal corporations. Their administrative control was given to union councils in accordance with Section 76(f) of the Sindh Local Government Ordinance 2001.

They recalled that the KMC had at least five major libraries before the installation of the city government. They were: Taimuria Library in North Nazimabad, Usmania Library in Nazimabad, Korangi Central Library, Liaquat Hall Library in the Frere Hall on Abdullah Haroon Road, and Lyari Textbook Library.

The district officer of the city government's culture and sports department, Saifur Rehman Grami, told Dawn that the KMC used to run some 73 libraries, including reading rooms, in the city.

He said the libraries used to maintain a register in which the staff wrote the names of the books that readers asked for. "This they used to do in order to ensure that at the time of purchase of books, those volumes are bought which are in demand. This practice is still followed as much as possible."

The sources said the UCs in the city had not been able to add books to the libraries. "The paucity of funds has made the day-to-day running of the libraries a difficult matter.

Previously, a librarian was appointed in the Grade 17. A few UCs have officials as senior as Grade 17. This is an administrative absurdity which should have been taken care of," they observed.