The Ranade Library on Luz Church Road was reopened on Thursday after the South Indian National Association paid ₹40 lakh in rent arrears.
Association honorary secretary K.S. Hemanth Kumar presented the cheque to Minister P.K. Sekarbabu on Wednesday. The library is nearly 120 years old and is managed by the association and is situated on land belonging to the Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore.
According to sources in the HR&CE Department, the association owed the temple around ₹79 lakh rent arrears. Last week, officials sealed the library and the Srinivasa Sastri Hall, situated above it, which was opened in 1955, citing rental arrears. The library has a collection of over 8,000 books.
The foundation stone for the library was laid by Gopal Krishna Gokhale on July 24, 1904 and the building was opened by S. Subrahmania Aiyar, who was the then officiating Chief Justice, on August 14, 1905. The library and the Association were founded by Dewan Bahadur R. Raghunatha Rao, V. Krishnaswamy Aiyar and P.R. Sundara Aiyar. The Srinivasa Sastri Hall, which has hosted concerts of well-known Carnatic musicians, was opened by Sir Mirza Ismail on May 15, 1955.
