BAHAWALPUR: The South Punjab Secretariat, Bahawalpur, has prepared an ambitious plan to digitise a treasure trove of rare books, manuscripts and old newspapers, available at the Central Library here, by spending millions.

This was stated by South Punjab Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Saqib Zafar during inspection of the library on Monday.

The library, Sadiq Reading Room, was established in 1924 during the reign of late Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi, has a collection of over 150,000 books on different topics, in addition of rare manuscripts of Holy Quran and thousands of files of (many of them now closed) newspapers like The Pakistan Times, Imroze, New-Delhi and Karachi and some others published during the (now defunct) Bahawalpur State rule.

The library’s precious assets, which had been preserved by the chief librarians, also include very important documents and gazetteers of the Bahawalpur State government.

According to an official handout issued here, South Punjab ACS Saqib Zafar said during his visit that the library’s entire record would be digitised with the coordination of the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB). He also assured that necessary funds for this purpose would be allocated in the next year’s budget.

During the visit, Chief Librarian Rana Javed Iqbal briefed the ACS, apprising him in detail of the books and other rare literary treasures collected over the last 99 years and being preserved at the library.

According to chief librarian, the central library’s upper floor has a Quran Gallery comprising the 30 Spiras, show cased in beautiful wooden frames, which also needed immediate funding for its renovation.

The Punjab Education Department has been ignoring the library over the last many years, allocating no funds for its repairs and to provide facilities to the visitors, including researchers and scholars.

MoU: The district government and an NGO have signed an MoU – “Ride with honour and safety” – to impart scooty riding training to women, and inform them about traffic rules and road safety.

The MoU was signed at a ceremony held on Tuesday by DC Zaheer Anwar Jappa and NGO’s executive director Jamshed Alalm.

The training to women will be imparted by traffic police personnel.

Meanwhile, the district administrations of Lodhran and Bahawalpur have imposed Section 144 in their respective jurisdictions, banning the assembly of five or more persons.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2023