Over a year has elapsed since the children’s library, located in the Maharaja’s park here, was closed. In the name of renovation, the children have been deprived of the library facility, despite many parents having appealed to the authorities concerned to reopen it.
The library was set up in a building that belongs to the Hassan City Municipal Council. In 2012-13, the council took the building into its custody as its authorities wanted a room for keeping some valuable items. P.L. Nagaraj, Chief Librarian of the City Central Library, told The Hindu on Saturday that the municipal council had stored some of its things inside the library. “We have written to the Municipal Commissioner to remove the items and return the room to our custody so as to restart the library,” he said. When contacted, Municipal Commissioner V.H. Krishnamurthy said he was attending a meeting at Mysore and would look into the matter after returning to Hassan on Monday.
B.N. Manjunath, resident of Kuvempu Nagar, said recently the Library Department observed Library Week. “There is no point in observing Library Week when children have no place to sit and read books,” he said.
Recently, the Hassan Urban Development Authority sanctioned a plot at Vijaya Nagar to the library. Mr. Nagaraj said the department plans to construct a building in the allotted plot to set up a full-fledged library, 500 people visit the library every day.
