A decade on, library at Vallur in Palakkad remains promise on paper

Pattambi: More than 10 years after it was announced, the library project at Vallur village continues to languish, with the nearly completed building lying idle for want of basic finishing touches.

The Mahila Samajam had earlier handed over five cents of land to the panchayat for the project. The plot was carved out of a larger parcel that a private individual had gifted to the Mahila Samajam free of cost years ago. Located near Balavadi, the land was earmarked over a decade ago for the construction of a library building and a primary health centre. K S B A Thangal, then president of the erstwhile Pattambi panchayat, laid the foundation stone and the basement work was completed. However, even after the local body was upgraded into a municipality, the project has remained unfinished.

Although the building was completed last year, the project is still incomplete, with windows and doors yet to be installed. Residents demand that the remaining work be completed at the earliest and that the proposed library, primary health centre and Kudumbashree office be made operational in it as originally planned.

With Asna Haneefa, who was elected from the newly carved Vallur Centre division and now serves as the municipality’s vice-chairperson, local residents are hopeful that the long-pending promise of a library will finally be realised. They have also urged other elected representatives from the region - Lathakumari (Vallur North), Aathira Mahesh (Vallur East), and P Girija (Randam Mile) - to join hands and ensure that the long-delayed library is established at the earliest.