Guntur: The shifting of the government offices from Hyderabad to the capital city of Amaravati has delayed the construction of a new state library building in Guntur city. This delay has caused much anxiety to students who have been preparing for various competitive exams for banking and state and central government jobs. They are worried over the state of dilapidated buildings and the poor maintenance of the library.
As the state government recently announced that it was going to give notifications for various posts, including Groups 1, 2 and 3 apart from the police posts, unemployed youth from various districts, are rushing to the library.
The old building, which has sections used for stock maintenance and issue of books, and the corridor of the state library building complex, are badly damaged. Some students even witnessed a portion of the roof of the old building falling in the recent past while there is undergrowth of plants on top of the buildings, further damaging the old and new constructions.
Gazette librarian M. Chandrasekharam explained that they had requested the state government for the sanction of a new building at an estimated cost of Rs 2 crore, but this has not yet materialised.
He further added that as the state government was engaged in the transfer of employees and the shifting of offices from Hyderabad to Amaravati, the proposal regarding the construction of the new building had been kept pending.
This is the only big library in the two Telugu states after the Central Library in Hyderabad, which is now with Telangana state, after the bifurcation. The poor maintenance of the only available large library is a cause for worry, explained Mr. N. Ananda Rao, a student.
There are about 1.6 lakh books in the state library and 30 employees. At least, 300 students visit the textbook centre everyday besides the regular visitors to the newspaper section and members who can take books home from the library.
