Daijiworld News Network - Mangalore (VM)
Mangalore, Mar 12: Corporation Bank, one of the leading public sector banks in the country, which took birth in this region, is in its centenary year. To celebrate this event, the newly-constructed Corporation Bank Centenary Library will be inaugurated on Sunday, March 12, 2006 by finance minister (FM) P Chidambaram.
The inauguration of the state-of-the–art library set up at a cost of Rs 2 crore near Mangala Stadium will also be attended by chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and MP D V Sadananda Gowda.
Briefing the reporters on the event, Corporation Bank chairman and managing director V K Chopra on Saturday March 11 said that a programme at the TMA Pai Convention Centre would follow the inauguration.
The new library has three floors with a total area of about 12,000 sq ft. At the basement, the library has video conferencing, facility and Internet browsing facilities besides a lending section. In the ground floor, there is a newspapers and periodicals wing, reference section, children's section and administration wing. There is numismatic wing and a multipurpose hall on the first floor, informed Chopra.
Readers can borrow books, CDs and can also use internet and video conferencing. The multi-purpose hall can be used for various purposes like releasing new books, holding lecture sessions and yoga classes, he added.
The bank has successfully completed the first phase of commissioning 25 village libraries out of which 15 are in the State, seven in Andhra Pradesh and three in Tamil Nadu.
Apart from the library project, the bank has taken up a project to award scholarships to 100 economically weak and meritorious students in the identified 25 villages where libraries have been set up.
Chopra said as per the scheme, students selected would get scholarship ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 7,500 per annum depending upon their course, till their completion of graduation/professional course.
Highlighting the present status of the bank, Chopra said that the all the branches will be covered under Core-banking by July 2006.
Executive director K L Gopalakrishna, general manager A Mohan Rao and other general managers were present at the press meet