Nearly a year after the new District Central Library was constructed next to the Town Hall here, it is yet to be thrown open to public.
The construction began here in February 2017 and completed by last April, at a cost of ₹3.49 crore.
The ground floor will house a reading room, children’s section, senior citizens reading section, and magazine and newspaper reading section.
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-seater capacity meeting hall will be on the second floor.
Despite the building being ready, the interior works are pending. Arun Kumar, project director of Nirmiti Kendra, said that these will cost ₹1.76 crore. But the Department of Public Libraries had not released funds for them.
He had met the Director of the Department of Public Libraries in Bengaluru recently and he had promised to release the funds by the end of March.
“Once the funds are released, we will be able to complete the interior works in a couple of months,” he said.
The construction of the new building was taken up because there was not enough space at the present District Central Library building located on Kavi Muddana Road.
The Department of Public Libraries had to cede the ground floor to the Udupi city municipal council to house some of its departments resulting in lack of space for the former.
