E-Paper
Prayagraj Smart City Initiative: Mega revamp for Allahabad public library
Prayagraj divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant has constituted a special committee to go through the proposal
The historic Allahabad Government Public Library located within the sprawling campus of Chandra Shekhar Azad Park here is getting a mega revamp under the Prayagraj Smart City Initiative. Under the project, the library building constructed in 1864 is being renovated and would soon be equipped with modern facilities.
A proposal prepared by the library administration for the works to be undertaken in this regard was placed before Prayagraj divisional commissioner Vijay Vishwas Pant during a meeting of the library management committee on Thursday. He has constituted a special committee to go through the proposals, say senior district administration officials aware of the development.
The library, founded by the Government of North-Western Frontier Provinces, is housed in the Thornhill-Mayne memorial building. It was erected in the memory of CB Thornhill and Francis Otway Mayne, the then member of Board of Revenue and the then commissioner of Allahabad, as a testament to their enduring friendship and ascription to the values of scholarship.
It is one of the biggest libraries of Uttar Pradesh and the country. The building was designed by Richard Roskell Bayne and is considered a remarkable example of Scottish Baronial Revival architecture with sharp pillars and turrets of granite and sandstone. It represents structural polychromy with lofty towers and arcaded cloisters. When completed in 1870, it cost around ₹94,222.
The monument served as the house of legislative assembly in British era when Allahabad was the capital of United Provinces. In 1879, the library was shifted to the present premises at Chandrashekhar Azad Park.
The library has an approximate collection of 125,000 books, 40 types of magazines and 28 newspapers in Hindi, English, Urdu and Bangla and contains 21 Arabic manuscripts. It also has a collection of old government publications, parliamentary papers, and blue books of the 19th century, old manuscripts and journals.
Though the library has been popular among writers, researchers and students preparing for competitive exams for years now, over time the need for renovation was felt. After much consideration, the work of conserving the buildings kick-started in June 2022 through Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and the work is already more than half complete, said officials.
As per the new proposal, the library will now be equipped with modern facilities. There will be internet facility and modern online cataloguing of the books and the manuscripts besides digitalisation of the rare books and manuscripts, officials said.
For a long time, the registration fee of the library has been ₹50. It is proposed to be increased to ₹100. For now, the caution money, which was ₹350, ₹700 and ₹1,500 depending upon the cost of books one wanted to take home, has been increased to ₹500, ₹1,000 and ₹2,000 respectively. This amount, however, continues to remain refundable.
Librarian Gopal M Shukla said now books have become expensive. “In such a situation, due to low caution amount, only cheaper books were being issued to the members to take home. So, the amount has been hiked,” he said.
