The Tamil Nadu government will expedite work to construct Library-cum-Knowledge Centres in 29 urban areas so that they can be launched in two months.
Chief Minister M.K. Stalin has so far inaugurated such centres at 71 cities and towns in various districts to promote reading habit, enhance knowledge and enable critical thinking among youth. The centres will have reading halls, books, computers with internet access, among others, officials said.
The Municipal Administration Department will implement the project and make arrangements at the centres to help students and aspirants prepare for competitive tests such as civil services examination and those of TNPSC and TNUSRB. Of 100 such centres proposed in the State, corporations and municipalities will get 87 and town panchayats, 13.
The centres will come up at Nandhivaram-Guduvancheri, Chidambaram, Panruti, Kariamangalam, Gobichettipalayam, Sathyamangalam, Pugalur, Uthangarai, Melur, Vedaranyam, Paramakudi, Rameswaram, Attur, Mettur, Sivaganga, Tenkasi, Kumbakonam, Palanichettipatty, Chinnamanur, Nannilam, Tiruchendur, Musiri, Manachanallur, Ambasamudram, Udumalaipettai, Thiruthani, Arani, Gudiyatham, and Sivakasi. “The works [to construct them] are in the advanced stage and will be completed shortly,” said an official.
Some of the centres have been constructed on the premises of educational institutions. For instance, centres are being built on the UKC Nagar Primary School premises in Ward 13 at Udumalaipettai in Tiruppur district; Annamalai Nadar Unnamalai Ammal Municipal Higher Secondary School on Viswanathan Road in Sivakasi; and the municipal town middle school at Ward 13 in Gobichettipalayam.
“A committee headed by the Collector has been formed to monitor the centres. Retired professors will guide the aspirants,” an official said.
