Share Our Heritage with the World

General Library, Sukkur

Help Us to find its location on the map and recent photographs.

The General Library was founded in 1837 under the name of the Station Library. This name was attributed to the Indus Floatila Company, which was based at Signal Station in Sukkur. The company itself had been established in Sukkur in 1835, by Sir Henry Pottinger. In 1869, after the construction of the Kotri-Multan railway line, the company was winded up. The library was then renamed as General Library, refurbished, and reopened in 1871. In 1893, it was registered in Bombay.

The General Library, Sukkur, has played a very important role in the social activities of Sukkur. Diwan Bhoj Singh G. Pahlajani, the first Speaker of the Sindh Legislative Assembly, remained the longest serving Secretary General of the library for some 33 years (effecting from 1905-1938). Thereafter it was managed by Mr. L. Ajwani, a renowned scholar of English and a distinguished professor at the D.J. Science College in Karachi. Nowadays, the library is working under a registered board of trustees. The library possesses some very valuable original manuscripts as well as thousands of books on a wide range of subjects. It is situated in the premises of Municipal Corporation, Sukkur.

Presently, it comprises a main reading hall and couple of small chambers for dumping old records. It remained open from dawn to dusk with a lunch break.

(Documented on June 1, 2013)

[Source: Sukkur: Nostalgia of things past by Momin Bullo | Coordinates: EFT]