East Delhi gets another branch of historic Hardayal Library

A new branch of the historic Hardayal Municipal Public Library was today opened in Brahmapuri area in east Delhi, which will also have e-library facility.
East Delhi Mayor Harshdeep Malhotra said that the library is an asset of society and soon a branch of the old Hardayal library would be started at the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) headquarters in Udyog Sadan too.
The facility was inaugurated by BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Delhi Legislative Assembly Vijender Gupta, who also inaugurated a project on electrification of 48 streetlight poles.
The BJP legislator from Rohini, also opened a dengue awareness programme at a municipal school in ward no. 254 in Brahampuri. MP from North-East Manoj Tiwari was also present.

"The Brahampuri branch will also have e-library facility. Technical books for engineering and nursing students will also be available in it," Malhotra said.
Secretary, Hardayal Municipal Library, Shoba Vijender said that there are 28 branches of the Hardayal Library in Delhi out of which three are situated in east Delhi.

"Now, including the Brahmapuri branch, we have four branches of the library in east Delhi," a senior EDMC official said.
One of the oldest public libraries of Delhi, it was set up in 1862 as the Lawrence Institute Library. In 1912, the then Viceroy of India Lord Hardinge escaped a bomb attack while passing by Chandni Chowk on an elephant. The library was shifted to a larger building in Old Delhi by the British to commemorate Hardinge's survival and was renamed after him.

After independence, it was named Hardayal Library after freedom fighter Lala Hardayal who had led the bomb attack on Lord Hardinge. The library has over 1,70,000 books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Prakrit.
Plans are afoot to bring back the original glory of the famed library, with Lt Governor Najeeb Jung on August 28 approving a grant of Rs 3 crore for a major restoration project of the city's landmark.
The erstwhile unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) was trifurcated into -- North, East and South Corporations in 2012.
Located near another landmark Town Hall, under the jurisdiction of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC), the library has branches spread across all three regions -- north, east and south.