Cuttack: If things go well, Padhiary Library and Information Centre— arguably the oldest library in Odisha— at Choudhury Bazar here will soon get a facelift.
Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Minister Raghunandan Das who visited the 60-year-old library, Monday, agreed to address the long-standing issue, including the infrastructure woes and staff crunch, dogging the library under the I&PR department.
Sources said Das directed the authorities to repair the LED and video wall on a war-footing basis.
Assuring installation of a telescope at the library, district Collector Bhabani Shankar Chayani, who was also present on the occasion, said that the district administration would extend all possible assistance towards developing the
library.
Cuttack Municipal Commission (CMC) commissioner Ananya Das, meanwhile, volunteered to take responsibility for designating a special place in the library for poor students where they could take coaching for competitive exams.
The library was set up in 1958 in the memory of noted freedom fighter late Pranakrushna Padhiary. Although the library began at Town Hall, it was shifted to a structure sprawling over 104-decimal area in Choudhury Bazar in 1960.
The library, with around 933 registered members, houses more than 18,000 books. Newspaper reading, book reading, women and child, e-library and digital display system are a few major departments at the library.