A man and his mission to build libraries in spite of all odds makes Nazimuddin Hazari different from others. Hazari as he is better known among the circle is single handedly trying to materialize his dream to establish Library with books from around the globe, so that the knowledge may not remain limited to restricted few and he dreams to make many such model libraries.
58 year young Nazimuddin Hazari is a librarian with a private company in Kolkata but his untiring effort for years to build library got light, when he successfully raised a Library Building in his native village with the support from Government and now has registered his work as an NGO in the year 2000.
For last 18 years, apart from lending books and space for children to study, the organisation, which is named as Shashwata Suchetana Gramin Pathagar, have been doing various other activities, which include Text Book Distribution, Medical Camps, Eye Check up etc.
This year too in a two days programme, 110 students of Class-9 and Class 10 were given their books for the year, meanwhile junior students from Class-1 to Class 4 were given Notebooks, Pen and Pencil. A Health Camp was organised for the seniors of the village and 86 people were benefitted.
Former Union Secretary and Philanthropist Sri Ram Bandopadhyay launched a Half Yearly student News Paper named “Kalantan”, during the annual programme.
It all begun when Nazimuddin Hazari came to Kolkata in the year 1975 as a school boy to support his father in his bakery business and to study in the city, but for young Nazimuddin, it was always his friend and village for whom his thoughts went by. Amidst the beauty and availability of all resources in the city made him cry in silence, that his friends and other children back in village are deprived of all this.
So, whenever he visited his village he used to buy extra books from his pocket money and give them to his friends and other children of the village. After completion of his schooling from Kolkata Modern School he joined Surendranath Collage and passed his Graduation with Chemistry Honors but his interest in books made him pursue bachelor degree in Library Science from Jadavpur University and after successful completion of the Bachelor degree he joined a Private company as its Librarian.
During his Library Science Student days, he came across many illumanaries who motivated him in his mission as he says while speaking to News Sense, he said “When I was a student of Library Science, West Bengal Library Movement was in full swing, and reading was a passion and therefore has become a movement in those days, it is here under the influence many intellectual my idea of Library took shaped, I thought rather than giving away books to children in my village, why not have a place or library where they can come and read books and open their mind in the world of learning”.
Later when he joined the job he saved from his salary to build a library in his village near Khanakul in Hoogly District of West Bengal. Support from individuals and organisation started pouring in with his noble idea. While speaking to us Nazimuddin said “Generous help started pouring in, when I started, Mira Bhattacharya, the eminent social worker and wife of the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya came forward to help me, their daughter Suchetana gave away all her books from her personal library which she has received as gifts and with her books we started our library in the year 2002.”
The mission of establishing a library though took shape in the year 2002 and now with the support of MP Lad Fund, two room library on a land donated by a uncle of Nazimuddin has been build, with regular activities in the form of book for study and computer training with two computers are on in the building.
The increasing demand for education and when it cost nothing, the students of the village have made this Library their study house, but for Nazimuddin, who also want to make many such model libraries, to maintain the ongoing projects and support to students thereby carrying forward the lamp of knowledge is becoming little hard.
Great endeavour!! Reminds me of my father who did every possible thing to build a library in our native village but had to succumb to the financial woes and lackadaisical approaches of the locales!!