The Anna Centenary Library, South Asia's largest library with a collection of more than 5.5 lakh books will soon be converted into a super-specialty hospital for children.
Children in Tamil Nadu will get an exclusive super-specialty hospital, described as the first of its kind in the country. The Anna Centenary Library, South Asia's largest library with a collection of more than 5.5 lakh books will soon be converted into a super-specialty hospital for children, according to a government release issued on Wednesday.
The ACL, built at a cost of Rs172 crore during the previous DMK regime was thrown open to the general public by the then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on September 15 2010.
The library hogged international limelight when Hillary Clinton, the US state secretary addressed a select gathering during her official visit to Chennai last July.
The decision to convert the library into a children’s hospital was taken in a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Tuesday.
The ACL had become a major landmark in Chennai due to its aesthetically designed structure.
The Indian Green Building Council had issued Gold Rating to the library because of its energy efficiency.
The government release said the ACL would be shifted to the international knowledge centre being set up at Egmore in the heart of the city. Political observers describe this action as a move by the AIADMK government to demolish all major landmarks that were constructed and inaugurated by the Karunandhi regime.
Interestingly, the ACL was built by the DMK regime at a site near the Anna University campus where Jayalalithaa during her earlier tenure as chief minister (2001 to 2006) had decided to build a new secretariat. But she was forced to drop the plan in the face of strong opposition from civil society.
The Karunanidhi government used the plot of land to build the state-of-the-art library. The DMK government also constructed a new secretariat which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on March 13, 2010. But the entire secretariat could not be shifted to the new building because some of the works could not be completed as scheduled.
Jayalalithaa, who was sworn in as chief minister for the fourth time on May 16, 2011 decided to shift the secretariat and assembly back to Fort St Geroge, the previous headquarters of the Tamil Nadu administration. The new secretariat has been converted into a medical college and super specialty reference hospital for the poor.
She also ordered a probe into the irregularities associated with the construction of the secretariat. A retired judge of the Madras High Court is holding an enquiry into the whole episode.
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