New Delhi, Aug 30 (PTI) The MCD House is set to meet on August 31, with the constitution of a new managing committee for the over 160-year-old Hardayal Municipal Public Library likely to be among the agenda items, sources said on Wednesday.

The heritage library in Delhi's Chandni Chowk area was christened as Hardinge Library in 1916 and boasts a rich collection of books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit.

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"The next House is set to convene tomorrow (Thursday) and there will be several key items on the agenda, including the constitution of a new 11-member managing committee for Hardayal Library," an official source said, adding that the members will include elected councillors, among others.

The move is being seen as a step to resolve the issue of pending salaries of employees of the library, set up in 1862 as part of a reading club for the British.

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In April, Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi assured that those library employees who had not been paid for years would soon get their arrears.

A verification committee was set up for the distribution of salaries. This committee was to submit a report in 15 days, the civic body had then said.

"Once the new committee is constituted, we will try to get the pending salaries of the employees released within a month," the source said, adding that the old panel will stand dissolved once the House clears the constitution of the new one.

Oberoi visited the library a few months ago and later held a meeting with a group of employees at the Civic Centre. She listened to their grievances and issued instructions to constitute a verification committee for early resolution of the matter.

According to the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav website, the governance of the library vests in a governing body called the managing committee, with the mayor as ex-officio president.

There are about 3,123 Gazettes of India and Delhi Gazettes, the website says.

"The library decor is antique with ancient bookshelves and almirahs. It has a unique collection of more than 1,70,000 (1.70 lakh) books in Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Persian and Sanskrit. This is one of the few libraries in the world with a collection of at least 8,000 rare books. The oldest book in the library is block-printed. Some of the oldest books are 'A Relation of Some Years' by Travaile Begvenne, 'History of the World' by Sir Walter Raleigh, and 'Mahabharata' in Persian written by Abul Fazal Faizi," it says.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)