Govt library building being misused, allege locals; department locks it up

BENGALURU: An under-construction government library building in Yeshwantpur Assembly constituency is being purposes than intended. The three-storey library building is being constructed on 3,795 sqft of land, but an influential politician is exerting pressure on the authorities to allow use of the building for a gymnasium, a BangaloreOne centre, dance training centre, yoga cenre and two commercial outlets, locals have alleged.

Work going on at the three-storey government library building.

After receiving an oral complaint from locals, Parvathamma, the Deputy Director of West Zone, City Central Library, Hampinagar, has written a letter on March 2 to the assistant engineer of the BBMP requesting them to hand over the building after completing the construction work. For the time being, she has ordered that the building be locked.

Parvathamma said the site and building belong to the Library Department. There is no proposal for using the Civic Amenity (CA) site for other commercial purpose. Extension works such as opening a digital library can be taken up, she noted.

“We did not know about this earlier and now we have secured the building after our department got information. We will not entertain such things and will not let it go to private hands. We will take necessary measures to prevent occupation of government property”, she said.

Rahul, a local resident, alleged that a conspiracy is going on in the name of building extension.

Local resident Rahul, “This building is being constructed with a grant of Rs 1.75 crore under the CM Nagarothana fund, which is not supposed to be used for such constructions. There is a conspiracy to hand it over to a private body. This is the only one library for students of this area. The extension of the library cannot be for other purposes”.

Shivakumar, president of the Jayaprakash Narayan Vichara Vedike.

Shivakumar, president of the Jayaprakash Narayan Vichara Vedike, accused the local MLA and his supporters of trying to misuse the property. “There is political interference in this issue. It should be used for only library purpose as per the law. Now, there is a Namma Clinic, which is an essential amenity. The followers of MLA Somashekhar are behaving like it is their property. If they are ready to face the issue legally, we are also ready to file a complaint against them”.

He further said, “Some building materials have been brought to erect a wall create space for a gym. The library department has leased this space from BDA for 30 years”.