BANGALORE: The State Government has decided to launch a Grameena Granthalaya programme to ensure that there is one public library in each of the 5,714 gram panchayats. This is said to be the first programme of its kind in the country.

Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S. Horatti, who held a meeting with officials of the Public Libraries Department, told presspersons here on Friday that 3,251 gram panchayats had already opened libraries. Come October 2, the remaining 2,463-gram panchayats would be provided assistance to set up libraries for which Rs. 12.8 crore had been provided.

Each library would be given an initial amount of Rs. 3 lakh, and the Government would meet the annual maintenance expenses. The budgetary allocation had been made in the current year as part of the Suvarna Karnataka celebrations, he said.

The gram panchayats, which had buildings or premises to spare, would house the libraries in such buildings. Others had been asked to rent premises and ensure that the libraries began functioning at the earliest.

On November 14, the Government planned to launch community children's centres in all the districts. Mr. Horatti said the aim was to facilitate the all-round development of the child by providing access to the best of literature in Kannada, English and other languages, apart from providing access to toys and tools such as computers, games and LCD projectors and related activities for children of all ages. In the current year, Rs. 81 lakh had been provided for the project.

Books in Braille

In order to make available good books in Kannada in Braille, Rs. 10 lakh had been allotted for the current year. Libraries for the visually impaired would be opened in all the 27 districts.

Mr. Horatti said e-governance, information kiosks, book fairs and other events and training of officials and staff in the use of computers were also on the cards.

The Government would make drastic changes in the book selection and purchase procedure, as there were several complaints about irregularities in purchase, which were causing huge losses. Books purchase would be streamlined through a single-window system, he added.

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