Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

‘Civic bodies owe Rs. 85 crore to libraries’

— Photo: A. Shaikmohideen

INSPECTION: Members of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Library Committee inspecting the District Central Library in Palayamkottai on Thursday.

TIRUNELVELI: Efforts are on to collect the arrears of Rs. 85 crore to be paid by local bodies to libraries across the State, according to chairman of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Committee on Libraries, S.R. Raja of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The committee was in the district on Thursday to hold discussions with librarians and others officials to discuss various strategies on strengthening library-network in Tirunelveli district. Later speaking to reporters here, Mr. Raja said that the civic bodies across the State, which had the responsibility of collecting library cess and handing it over to libraries, had failed to pay it in time and hence this amount had accumulated during the past several years to the tune of Rs. 85 crore, including Rs. 4 crore to be paid by the civic bodies of Tirunelveli district.

Mr. Raja said the committee members were interacting with librarians and other officials to find out facilities available in the knowledge repositories and the facilities required to make them more effective.

“Apart from ensuring better books and journals, we’ll also meet research students and candidates preparing for civil service examinations when they visit the libraries so that we can understand the actual requirements and forward it to the government,” Mr. Raja said.

The number of libraries in the State, which had now crossed 3,000, would go up further in near future, Mr. Raja informed.

One of the members of the committee and Congress MLA from Kangeyam, Vidiyal S. Sekar, said the committee was keen on recommending to the government to provide Internet facility with broadband connectivity in every library, including the libraries in rural areas also.

The committee later visited the district central library at Palayamkottai, where they interacted with students preparing for civil service examinations, to understand the present status of the library and amenities to be provided.The Assembly secretary, M. Selvaraj, MLAs Uthayam Shanmugam, R. Manickam, K.S. Vijayakumar, S. Thenmozhi, M. Dhandapani, V. Kaveri and P. Kannan were present.

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