New projects, facilities at museum and zoo

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of the hundred day action plan of the State Government, various projects saw their commencement at the Museum here on Wednesday.   The first and foremost being the digitisation of the Museum Library, which contains a variety of books on various subjects, including art, history, wildlife, painting, gardening and so on. The library is a treasure trove of nearly 4,000 books. So far, 500 books have undergone the digitisation process in the first phase and the rest of the books will be subjected to digitisation soon.  Among the digitised series, ‘Medicina Aegyptiorum’, a book on medicine written by Jacobi Bontii in Latin which dates back to 1719, is the oldest one. The digitisation process was completed by C-DIT in eight months. Readers can come and sit in the library to read the books, but they cannot be copied.  To ensure purified drinking water to the visitors, taps have been installed at seven new points on the zoo and museum premises. The new water taps have come up at three points on the museum premises and another three on the zoo premises. Near the Art Museum, near the old ticket counter at the western entrance, on the way to Sree Chitra Enclave, near the comfort station, near the pavement of the big pond and near the tiger enclosure inside the zoo, the taps can be seen.   In a bid to ensure better moving facilities for the differently abled on the premises, ramps have been created for wheelchairs to be rolled inside. According to zoo officials, inside the zoo, only one such ramp is necessary on the way to the aviary as there is a fleet of steps there.  The renovated garden near the huge banyan tree on the museum premises is all set to welcome the guests with a much revamped seating arrangement and a lushly green carpet of bushy grass on the ground.  The inauguration of the new facilities were carried out by Minister for Museum and Zoo P K Jayalakshmi. The drinking water facility was dedicated to the public by Mayor K Chandrika. Remani P Nair, District Panchayat president, released the catalogue of the renovated library, the renovated garden was opened by G Happykumar, Deputy Mayor of the City Corporation and the inauguration of the facilities for differently abled people was done by Leelamma Issac, Councillor of Nanthancode ward.