Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday announced an ambitious plan to build 60 public libraries across Guwahati, with one library in each of the city’s municipal wards. The announcement, made through a social media post directed at book lovers in the capital, frames the initiative as a direct effort to remove a quiet but persistent barrier to learning — the simple absence of accessible places to read and study.
In his message, the Chief Minister wrote: “Book lovers in Guwahati, I have some good news for you. We are building 60 libraries across the city, 1 in each Municipal Ward to make available spaces for students, researchers and readers so that opportunities for good learning are never a hindrance.” He tagged the Guwahati Municipal Corporation, signalling that the civic body will play a central role in executing the project.
The ward-level approach prioritises neighbourhood proximity over a single large central institution. Guwahati is divided into 60 municipal wards under the Guwahati Municipal Corporation. By placing a library in every ward, the plan aims to ensure that students preparing for competitive examinations, researchers and ordinary readers do not have to travel long distances or rely solely on the limited number of existing public libraries or paid private reading rooms.
The announcement coincides with a related development under which the State Bank of India has committed significant Corporate Social Responsibility funding. Reports indicate that SBI will provide Rs 6 crore to the Guwahati Municipal Corporation for developing community libraries across all 60 wards. This financial support is expected to help translate the Chief Minister’s announcement into on-ground facilities relatively quickly.
The move comes against the backdrop of long-standing concerns about the scarcity of functional public libraries in Guwahati. The city has historically had only a handful of government-run libraries, including the district library and a few branch facilities. Many students and aspirants have had to turn to private reading rooms that charge fees, while existing public facilities have sometimes faced issues of overcrowding, limited space or inadequate infrastructure. The new network of 60 libraries is intended to address this gap at the local level and make reading and study spaces a routine part of neighbourhood life rather than a distant facility.
The Chief Minister’s post reflects a broader emphasis by the Assam government on promoting reading culture and educational access. In recent months, officials have spoken about libraries across the state becoming more active through book talks, rotating collections and community programmes aimed particularly at children and young learners. The Guwahati initiative scales that focus to the densest urban concentration of students and aspirants in the state.
While details on timelines, exact locations within each ward, design standards and the range of facilities (such as digital resources, study halls or children’s sections) are yet to be fully spelled out, the clear political and administrative signal is that the project is moving forward under the Guwahati Municipal Corporation with additional support from SBI. The announcement has already drawn public attention, with some voices welcoming the focus on Guwahati’s book lovers and others suggesting that similar neighbourhood library networks should eventually be expanded to other towns and districts across Assam.
For students who currently struggle to find quiet, affordable places to study, for researchers looking for local reference spaces, and for ordinary readers seeking a neighbourhood library, the Chief Minister’s message offers a concrete promise: that the absence of a place to read should no longer stand in the way of learning.
