The 54-year-old library was sealed in December 2017 owing to legal disputes with the building owners. Amit MehraOver 85,000 books which had to be moved out of Delhi Public Library’s (DPL) Karol Bagh branch following High Court directions citing damage to the structure — rendering the books vulnerable to rainwater damage — might find a new home at Aram Bagh. This comes after DPL was directed to follow up on a request by the residents welfare association of GPRA colony in Aram Bagh, saying that a library be developed in a vacant plot around two kilometres away from the old library building.
The 54-year-old library had been sealed in December 2017 owing to legal disputes with the owners of the building, along with a North MCD notice to close the library as “the building is dangerous”. In July, the Delhi High Court ordered that the books be moved out of the “out-of-use premises”, where they were susceptible to damage by rainwater. The books were subsequently transported on a temporary basis to a new DPL property in Bawana.
Later, in September, the court directed DPL to re-establish its Karol Bagh branch at another location accessible to the public. Earlier this year, the secretary of the Central Government Employees RWA wrote to area MLA Meenakshi Lekhi requesting that a library be set up on a 950-sq metre vacant CPWD plot in their colony.
Lekhi forwarded the request to the CPWD, which sent it to the Ministry of Culture. It was eventually sent to DPL on October 31. “The most difficult part of setting up a new library is finding space for it. The plot in question is very close to the old Karol Bagh Library, which will allow us to fulfil the court’s direction to relocate those books. Public will soon be able to access the books,” said director general of DPL Dr Lokesh Sharma.
