Row over Public Library land takes a new turn

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsThe row over the alleged encroachment on the State Central Library (Public Library) land has been given a fresh twist with the Thiruvananthapuram Public Library Protection Council urging the State Government to declare the library ‘heritage property.’Only the ‘heritage property’ status can save the library and its campus from further encroachment, Council president M Ahmed Kunju and general secretary Attukal Surendran said in a petition submitted to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Education Minister P K Abdu Rabb.‘’It was the then king Swathi Thirunal who allotted 3.5 acres for establishing the library in 1829. A large chunk of the land was lost in the widening of the road. Now an affidavit filed by the government before the Kerala High Court says the library has only 2.24 acres with it,’’ Ahmed Kunju said.The controversy over library land has taken centre-stage once again with the Kerala High Court demanding to know as to where a proposed ‘Heritage Block’ - a public library project - was to be constructed.Controversy started dogging the public library land after the Pattom Thanu Pillai government sanctioned office space for the Grandhashala Sanghom (now State Library Council). According to the Library Protection Council, the Library Council had demolished the said building in 2002.The Council moved the High Court following attempts to build the EMS Memorial Information Centre on this land plus another 20 cents. The A K Antony government scrapped this order, but the project re-emerged during the term of the V S Achuthanandan government.first published:January 01, 1970, 05:30 ISTlast updated:January 01, 1970, 05:30 IST 
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