Silver jubilee project-Cataloguing of rare & Old Books
As part of INTACH's Silver Jubilee celebrations, East Godavari Chapter, took up the Cataloguing of the rare and old Books that are available in the popularly known K R V K Library, in Kakinada. All the Members have actively participated by voluntary monetary contributions for the Project and with help of professional Librarians, computerizing the list of available 8000 odd books and cataloguing them was successfully completed.
A brief introduction about the Library is required as most of the citizens do not know its history. During the days of the British rule, East Godavari District played a prominent role in opposing their domination. As part of this movement, when information to the public was denied, a few stalwarts of the Town of Kakinada established Literary Association combining the present Krishna, East & West Godavari Districts in the year 1895. There was no freedom of Press and there were no public places where meetings could be held. To create awareness amongst the public about political education, this Library was started in 1913. Philanthropists like Shri Kuthiventi Perraju Pantulu Garu, Bulusu Samba Murthy Garu, Duriseti Seshagiri Rao Panthulu Garu, Mallipudi Pallam Raju Garu, Lakkaraju Subba Rao Garu, Pydah Subbarauyudu Garu, Venkata Chelapathi Garu and others contributed for constructing this Library. The late Maharajah of Pithapuram was President of the Literary Association and the Library and rendered valuable services in the field of literature. The Library was named after the Zamindar of Polavaram, Shri Kocharlakota Raja Venkata Krishna Rao, as he donated more than 10,000 Books to the Library. During the pre Independence days, secret meetings were held here. More than 15,000 Books on Literature, Culture, Puranas in English, Telugu and Sanskrit were available at one time and enthusiastic readers thronged the place every day.
Over a period of time, the Library was not maintained properly and many Books went missing and those which were available were not in order. Book racks were not arranged according to the subjects/authors. Hence INTACH’s East Godavari Chapter took up this Project and completed in 90 days.
The Convener of the Chapter, Smt.L.Sesha Kumari, Co-Convener, Shri Y.S.Harichndra Rao and other Members handed over the Catalogues to the President of the East Godavari District Association, owner of the Library, Shri K.V.S.Anjaneya Murthy. He thanked INTACH for its efforts in taking up this Project as it will be useful not only for their Association, but to the general public also.
