MC’s new library in Ludhiana to be opened from September 1

Finally, the municipal corporation’s (MC) new library at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan will be opened for public from September 1. The MC has also setup an internet zone at the municipal library for searching e-books and reading content online.

The fully air conditioned library has been established in a beautiful round-shaped building wherein 48 readers can sit at a time and read books.

The readers will have a choice of more than 17,000 new and old books of different subjects in Punjabi, Hindi and English languages.

The visitors will find pictures of prominent writers, including Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, William Shakespeare, Rabindranath Tagore, John Keats, Sarojini Naidu, Jaswant Singh Kanwal, Amrita Pritam, Shiv Kumar Batalvi, Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Sahir Ludhanvi and Surjit Patar hanging on the walls.

Children will have choices to read books on ‘Bal Sahit’ (children literature), stories and general knowledge books, which will be available in different languages.

Besides law books, novels, autobiographies, biographies, technology, science, literature, patriotic, birds, nature, sports, religious and other books will also be available at the library.

Executive engineer HS Bhullar said, “Any person can visit and read the books free of cost at the Municipal Library. Readers can use free internet facility for reading e-books or online contents”.

However, there is a need to get membership in case you want to take any book home. Security fee is only Rs 50 and Rs 15 will be charged as annual membership fee as per MC.

The library will remain open from 9am to 5pm on all working days and will remain closed on Sunday and on a gazetted holiday.

Manjit Singh, a resident of Urban Estate, said, “The MC should also put the list of books on its official website. The MC should keep good books so that readers can enjoy reading. More libraries should be opened, especially near colleges and schools.”

MC Commissioner GK Singh Dhaliwal assured that more new books will be purchased soon. “We have purchased around 1,300 books for this library, which will be opened for public at 11am on September 1. We want to open more libraries to motivate residents to read books,” he said.

MC zonal commissioner (D) PS Ghuman said, “Nearly `30 lakh were spent on renovation and purchasing new furniture. Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria and MC commissioner GK Singh Dhaliwal will inaugurate the library.”

The process to shift the library from industrial area to Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan was hanging fire for around 16 years. The building of library in industrial area was in a shambles.