After razing heritage structure for canteen, Palike plans new library

Having come under severe criticism from residents and heritage activists for demolishing a 100-year-old library in Murphy Town to build an Indira Canteen, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now planned to build a public library in front of the canteen.

The library in Murphy Town Market was demolished in the wee hours of Monday to enable the construction of the state government’s flagship project, Indira Canteen, offering food at subsidised rates.

Sensing trouble after the demolition, BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said, “We are planning to build a library in front of the canteen. The reason why we demolished the building was that it was lying unused for 10 years and was in a dilapidated state. It was about to collapse. We will go ahead with the construction of the Indira Canteen in that place.”

Another BBMP official also said that since the building was in a dilapidated condition, they had decided to demolish it and use the place for the canteen.

Although the public library was relocated two weeks ago, the demolition in the wee hours took the nearby merchants by surprise.

As the deadline for the inauguration of the Indira Canteens is nearing, BBMP has hastened the construction work.