Government to Extend Full Support to Strengthen the Library Movement – Minister Chandrakant Patil

Mumbai, Jan 2026 : Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant (Dada) Patil said that the state government will extend all possible support to give fresh momentum to the library movement. He was addressing the first meeting of the State Library Council through a video conferencing system from the Mantralaya.

On this occasion, Additional Chief Secretary of the Higher and Technical Education Department B. Venugopal Reddy, Assistant Charity Commissioner Ram Lipte, Deputy Secretary of the School Education and Sports Department Tushar Mahajan, Deputy Secretary of the Higher Education Department Amol Mutyal, Director of Libraries Ashok Gadekar, President of the Maharashtra State Library Association Gajanan Kotewar, President of the Amravati Division Library Association Prabhakar Ghuge, President of the Marathwada Division Library Association Khanderao Sarnaik, President of the Pune Division Library Association Sopan Pawar, President of the Konkan Division Library Association Dilip Kore, Dr. Siddhi Jagdale, Dr. Subhash Chavan, Sunil Wayal, and other concerned officials were present.

Minister Patil said that as per the state government’s decision, the State Library Council has been reconstituted after 16 years. He noted that the State Library Council is the principal advisory body to the government for strengthening the library movement. He assured that the necessary financial support would be provided to empower the library movement and that concrete decisions would be taken for the all-round development of library management.

During the meeting, a proposal was presented to promote reading culture in rural areas by procuring mobile reading vans through CSR funds or the Raja Rammohan Roy Scheme, and taking these vans to villages, schools, and remote areas to conduct reading activities. It was also decided to coordinate with the Rural Development Department to effectively implement the “Library in Every Village” initiative.

Discussions were held on starting mobile library services on a pilot basis at the State Central Library and six divisional libraries, as well as on e-libraries, a unified e-library database, and mobile reading rooms. Approval was also granted for conducting inspections of public libraries once every three years.

At the meeting, reports of the Directorate of Libraries from the years 2008–09 to 2024–25 were approved.