CM inaugurates public library at Panorama, more to come up in Amritsar

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann inaugurated a public library inside the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama at Company Bagh as he announced multiple projects worth Rs 350 crore here on Saturday.

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Mann said Rs 56.36 crore has been spent on the construction of new roads, Rs 287.01 crore on upgrading road infrastructure and Rs 3.20 crore on the construction of six new libraries across the city. The Chief Minister said the Punjab Government is repairing and upgrading rural link roads across the state. “There are a total of 64,878 km of link roads in Punjab and until now they have been repaired every six years. Now, we have included ongoing maintenance for the next five years along with the repairs to these link roads,” he said.

Likewise, the six libraries, which will be inaugurated across various assembly constituencies of Amritsar in the coming days, have been built by the municipal corporation at a cost of Rs 3.20 crore. Mann said in the Amritsar West Assembly constituency, two existing libraries in Chheherta Library and the Old DC office library, which is also known as the Comrade Sohan Singh Josh library, have been renovated at a cost of Rs 32.58 lakh and Rs 31.41 lakh, respectively.

Additionally, one library each has been established in the North, Central, East, and South constituencies of Amritsar, with each costing Rs 64 lakh. The one inaugurated at Panorama today has been set up with modern infrastructure, equipped with computers, internet access, quality literature and study materials for competitive exams. “These libraries will instil fresh hopes in students to realise their dreams as now students can access world-class knowledge through books, adding that these libraries will play a crucial role in raising the intellectual level of students and achieving their cherished goals,” he said.

Meanwhile, this development comes at a time when Amritsar, which once boasted of more than 10 major public libraries, the largest one being Motilal Nehru Library at Town Hall (now closed), is struggling for survival.

Former Deputy Speaker of Punjab Assembly Prof Darbari Lal, while commending the inauguration ceremony of the library at the Company Bagh Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, said this is a very positive, educational and public welfare step.

Prof Lal, while requesting Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to revive the old libraries of the city, cited the example of Sardar Patel library. He said in 2006, a library was built in Gol Bagh in front of Durgiana temple in the name of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It was famously known as the Gol Bagh library.

“The library was built at a cost of Rs 10 lakh with fully equipped reading halls and over 2,000 books and newspapers published in different languages. But after the change of guard in 2007, this important storehouse of knowledge was converted into a police post, which in reality is a great injustice to the city residents,” he said.

He said, “Being the cultural and literary capital of Punjab, many libraries were built here during the British period. The best library among them was in the Town Hall, known as Pandit Moti Lal Nehru library. Apart from Comrade Sohan Singh Josh library that earlier was in Rani Ka Bagh and has now been shifted to the DC complex, Heera Market library in Sirnki Banda Bazaar and Guru Bazaar, the municipal committee had built small libraries at many places. But all of these have now shut down or on the verge of closure,” said Prof Darbari Lal.