VIJAYAWADA: With the State Central Library remaining in Telangana consequent to bifurcation, the State government is planning to establish a central library of its own for the 13 districts. The education department is in the process of making a requisition to the government for allotment of suitable land.
“We are in the process of asking the government to allot a suitable land for constructing a central library. Once we get clearance, we will build a facility as grand as the one that has gone to Telangana aster the state bifurcation,” Education Minister Audimulapu Suresh told TNIE.
To a query on where the library would be established, the minister said that it would depend on where the government would allot the land. The Telangana State Central Library, which was granted heritage status in 1998 by Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), was built in 1891 in a compound of over 72,000 sq yards.
For the record, the erstwhile state of Andhra Pradesh had a central library in Afzalgunj area of Hyderabad.
It is considered one of the imposing structures and caters to lakhs of students and competitive examination aspirants who use it on a daily basis. Even though over five years elapsed since the state was divided, the present government representatives allege, no effective steps were taken for the establishment of a new library in Andhra Pradesh.
“The earlier government just whiled away time but hasn’t been able to construct a central library,” alleged a government representative. Meanwhile, the State government is also working towards the relocation of Telugu University, which is also in Telangana after the State division.
The issue is pending with the department of language and culture, which is pursuing the matter. It may be noted that the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development had given its nod a few weeks back to shift the centre from Mysuru to NCERT campus in Nellore. The centre was set up in Mysuru in 2014 after the bifurcation.