Rotary Club to address sewage issue in district library

It has been haunting visitors for more than a year

February 18, 2018 06:14 pm | Updated 06:14 pm IST

 Earth filling work under way at the District Central Library in Ramanathapuram.

Earth filling work under way at the District Central Library in Ramanathapuram.

Readers and bookworms visiting the District Central Library need no longer have to bear the foul sewer smell as the Rotary Club of Golden Ramnad stepped in to address the sewage stagnation problem, which had been haunting the library for more than a year.

The library is located off the Ramanathapuram – Rameswaram national highway at ‘D Block’ near the Collectorate complex. The problem became perennial even after the local panchayat covered the canal with concrete slabs at the intervention of the district administration.

Recently sewage overflew from the canal and entered into the low-lying library campus. The library was beleaguered by the stinking sewage but readers kept continued to visit, bearing the menace.

Stepping in, the Rotary Club drained the sewage and started filling the campus with earth to address the problem once for all. When the club approached Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) R Baby, who was transferred recently, she had arranged vehicle and earth for the fill-up work.

The club members swung into action and shifted 185 tractor loads of earth for the fill-up work on the library campus, said, club President M. Tamilselvan. “The levelling work was almost complete,” he said.

The club also proposed to erect a shed inside the campus for the benefit of those were preparing for competitive examinations at an estimated cost of ₹ 3 lakh, he said. Dr Chinnadurai Abdullah, Governor, Rotary International District 3212 and Dr Arvind Raj had offered to support, he added.

It was a huge sigh of relief for the readers, who had been suffering the menace of mosquitoes and foul sewage smell, said K. Mangalasundaramurthy, president of ‘Vasagar Vattam’ (Readers’ Club) and thanked the Rotary Club.

‘Vasagar Vattam’ coordinated with the officials to bring in more readers and encourage children to visit the library, he said.

On an average, 250 to 300 people visited the library every day, said librarian P. Vellaisamy Kannan. He said the central library which has a collection of more than one lakh books has began the process of computerising the books for introducing the bar coding system.

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