Facing flak, Bihar rethinks plan to demolish Khuda Baksh library room for Patna flyover

Under strain from intellectuals over the attainable demolition of a studying room contained in the historic Khuda Baksh Oriental Library, Bihar authorities has determined to scale back the width of a selected stretch of a proposed flyover on Patna’s Ashoka Road.
Road building division extra chief secretary Amrit Lal Meena stated, “The BRPNNL (Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Limited) decided to reduce the width of the proposed overbridge for a certain distance to ensure that the Lord Curzon reading hall…is not demolished.”
The proposed 2.1-km double-decker flyover will hyperlink Kargil Chowk to the National Institute of Engineering chowk and to Ganga Path, one other mega mission.

The library was opened in 1891 by Khan Bahadur Maulvi Khuda Baksh, a Siwan landlord, with over 4,000 manuscripts. In 1905, then viceroy of India Lord Curzon was so impressed by the library’s wealthy assortment that he constructed the studying room. In 1969, the Centre acknowledged it as an establishment of nationwide significance. At current, the library has over 21,000 manuscripts, largely in Arabic and Persian, in addition to essential writings in Sanskrit, together with over 2.5 lakh books.
In a letter to Patna DM Chandrashekhar in April, the library’s director Shayesta Bedar wrote, “The (library) board was of the view that the possibility of saving the portions of the library be explored, keeping in view the significance of the library as the biggest cultural heritage of the state.”

Amid a row over the proposed demolition of the studying room two months in the past, street building division minister Nitin Nabin had additionally hinted at a evaluate of the plan.