Sirsi: The largest Ambedkar Bhavan of Uttara Kannada district has come up at Sirsi. The construction work of the building has been completed and it will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on December 7.

As the date for the inauguration has been fixed, the remaining civil works have gathered pace.

Foundation stone for the construction of the building was laid by the then chief minister Jagadish Shettar. Then, Rs one crore grants were released by the BJP government for the construction. The Nirmithi Kendra was given the contract of the work. However, the works went on at a slow pace. In the meantime, there was shortage of sand and the work completely halted for around five to six months. With the efforts of District In-charge Minister R V Deshpande, an additional fund of Rs two crore was released for the Bhavan last year.

Ultimately, a three-floor building covering an area of 20,000 sq feet has come up with the help of funds from the Social Welfare Department.

“The auditorium on the first floor can accommodate 500 people. In the ground floor, 500 people can have lunch at a time. For smaller programmes, only the auditorium will also be given on rent. There is facility for cooking for limited number of people besides the auditorium as well”, said Nirmithi Kendra engineer Kumar Shetty.

He said that the civil works of the building are almost over and presently, the front compound wall is being painted. All the work will conclude by December 1. The ten concrete poles which hold the aluminum composite sheet has enhanced the beauty of the building.

“Rs 1 crore was released for the building in 2012-13. We have completed the work within one year after the second phase of funds of Rs two crore were released in 2016-17”, he said.