You could well be reading newspapers and magazines in a spacious District Central and City Central Library Building with better facilities by June next year, if everything goes according to the plans of the district administration.
The construction of the new District Central and City Central Library building, which began in February this year, is going on at a site next to the Town Hall.
At present, the two-storeyed District Central and City Central Library is located on the Kavi Muddana Road next to the municipal office.
However, the ground floor of the present library has been occupied by the staff of the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) as it lacks space leading to congestion in the former.
Hence, a plan was drawn up a couple of years ago to construct a new library building.
“The new library building will be spacious offering better facilities to the readers. It will also help the youth preparing for the competitive examinations,” Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis told The Hindu .
The total plinth area of the new two-storeyed District Central and City Central Library building will be 13,250 sq ft, including basement, ground, first, and second floors.
In the new library building, the basement floor will have vehicle parking facility and store, while the Reading Room, Children’s Section, Senior Citizen Reading Section and Magazine and Newspaper Reading Section will come up on the ground floor. The first floor will house the Competitive Exams Study Centre, Reading Section, Digital Library, Property Counter and Chief Librarian’s Office. The technical and administration section and 130 seating capacity meeting hall will be on the second floor.
The new library is being constructed at a cost of ₹ 5.18 crore, including ₹ 3.49 crore for the building and ₹ 1.69 crore for the interior works. “Already, an amount of ₹ 2 crore has been released for the works. If the remaining amount is also released, the library will be ready by June 2018,” said Arun Kumar, Project Director of Nirmiti Kendra, which is constructing the new library.
Ms. Francis said that all efforts were being made to get the remaining funds to complete its construction in time. “We expect to get ₹ 1 crore from the Department of Public Libraries and funds from MP’s Local Area Development Fund. The Kollur Mookambika Temple will sponsor construction of a section of the library. We are also asking a big company to contribute funds under its Corporate Social Responsibility scheme,” she said.
