The newspaper archive of Bangla Academy is one of the largest in Bangladesh, preserving every national and weekly newspaper published in the country since 1964. The archive, and with it Bangladesh’s 53 years of history and legacy, is at the serious risk of being destroyed due to the negligence of its concerned authorities. Rats are slowly ripping the newspapers to shreds while countless stacks of newspapers are now home to spiders and cockroaches.

The Bangla Tribune has recently visited the archives located inside an old and rundown building on the Bangla Academy premises. When requested, the concerned official could not provide a copy of a newspaper published in 2001.

The official said: “Binding newspapers were halted since 1996. The newspapers are just sewed together and kept stacked on top of each other in several rooms. So, the archive copies cannot be supplied to anyone requesting them.”

While newspapers published 53 years ago are being kept in a cabinet, those published nearly two decades ago are stacked on the floor in five other rooms that neither have lighting systems, nor any form of temperature control. Light from a mobile phone revealed that the newspapers are gathering dust and are at the mercy of cockroaches and rats.

Sources said the building had been abandoned, fearing it might collapse anytime. Bangla Academy recently shifted its sales and marketing department from this building to newly constructed Enamul Haque Bhaban. But, the archives have been left inside the rundown building without any plans to move them.

Director of Bangla Academy Dr. KM Mujahidul Islam blamed the lack of space. “The Bangla Academy does not have any available space to shift the archives to a better place. The government has built us the Enamul Haque Bhaban, but it houses the sale center, cantine, and a bank. So the archives cannot be placed there,” he said. “We have requested the government for another building, and as soon as it is built, we can move the archives there.”

Meanwhile, several Bangla Academy officials complained that the negligence of the current administration was behind the sorry state of the newspaper archives. “The second and third floor of the Bangla Academy press building is currently empty. The archives could have easily been shifted there,” they added.

A number of other Bangla Academy officials said they were facing an acute shortage of manpower in most departments, such as the library, administration, and human resource. The Academy archives department has no telephone connection with the rest of the departments. Two binders’ position and the post of two computer operators are currently vacant. There is only one cataloguer instead of two.

According to these academy officials, the newspapers could not be archived properly due to the manpower shortage. A cutter machine belonging to the archives section has been assigned to the press section as newspapers are not being binded anymore.

Bangla Academy Director General Dr. Shamsuzzaman Khan acknowledged that the archives were in poor condition. “The archives are in a derelict condition and we are making a serious effort to improve the situation,” he said. “This initiative requires a lot of money, and we are trying our best to collect funds.” “We need a fund of Tk2 crore to bind, preserve and relocate the newspapers to a better location.”

Shamsuzzaman further said the Bangla Academy had plans to construct a new building in place of the old one, as it has become derelict and abandoned.