The Asiatic Society of Mumbai Employees Union have requested the Ministry of Culture to confer the status of 'Institution of National Importance' to the Asiatic Society and takeover its administration from the management committee. The employees have alleged that the management committee has been inefficient to run the society and it will lead the cultural grandeur towards shutting down.
The management committee of the iconic Asiatic Society of Mumbai, which is a 220-years-old ‘Grade One’ heritage structure, has been alleged of mismanagement by the employees of the society. The Asiatic Society employs 28 people including 3 contract-based employees, who look after 2.80 lakh books, 2847 Manuscripts, 293 printed pothis, 1300 maps and more than 12,000 coins.
The Asiatic Society of Mumbai Employees union, affiliated to All India Trade Union Congress, has alleged that the society’s inefficient managing committee and paucity of funds has led to a possibility of serious damage to rare and precious books, maps, journals, antiquities and the future of its employees. At a press conference organised on Thursday, the employees union alleged that the incompetent office-bearers are only interested in glowing their own networks through events management than doing constructive work for the institution.
The employees highlighted that the managing committee has failed to get the corpus grant from the state and union government as recommended by the review committee constituted by Ministry of Culture in October 2014. The review committee report had recommended a corpus grant of Rs. 50 crores to enable the society to receive a steady income. It has also alleged that the managing committee has failed to follow up the issue of conferring the status of "Institution of National Importance" on the Asiatic Society, Prakash Reddy, president of the Asiatic Society Employees Union, said, “Their administration style is haphazard, the quality of which could be counted as one of the poorest in the world. We request the Ministry of Culture to take over the Society to save valuable treasures of the Society and its employees. We also urge the Government of Maharashtra to formally request the Ministry of Culture to take over the responsibility of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai for preservation of 220 years legacy for future generation.”
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The union also laid out a list of demands from the managing committee including implementation of 7th Pay Commission pay-scale, pending dearness allowance for the period of Covid-19, implementation of 9% DA from January 2024 and settlement of pending cases of pay-scale anomalies of employees. The list also includes demand to maintain service book of each employee and recruitment on higher vacant posts of librarian, dy. librarian, accounts officer, junior clerk and peons.
The employees' union has threatened to intensify its agitation in protest of non-fulfilment of employees' demands after the society’s annual general meeting scheduled in the month end.
Sunil Bhirud, a member of the union, said, “Mumbai spends more money on filling potholes than it is spending to preserve the invaluable treasure of information stored in the Asiatic Society. It is the cultural grandeur of Mumbai and our legislators and parliamentarians should take up this cause.”
