CHENNAI: In another controversial move, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday announced that the modern Anna centenary library in the city, a multi-crore project of the earlier DMK government, will be converted into a super speciality paediatric hospital .Jayalalithaa said the library and other activities related to school education would be housed in a new integrated intellectual park to be housed in an alternative site in the city. In July last, the plush library complex had been chosen as the venue for US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to address about 1500 students.The DMK had claimed that the library, hurriedly built at a cost of about Rs 250 crore, was the largest in Asia. It was another pet project of former chief minister M Karunanidhi , whose term ended earlier this year. The decision comes two months after Jayalalithaa announced her plans to convert the Rs 500 crore new secretariat complex in the heart of Chennai, also built during the previous DMK regime, into a multi-specialty hospital. A design is being prepared for the superstructure which is expected to cost the AIADMK government several extra crores of rupees. Converting the library into a paediatric hospital is also expected to further burden the state exchequer.Jayalalithaa’s Wednesday announcement evoked an angry reaction from Karunanidhi. “I do not want to say anything. I am leaving it toTamil scholars and Tamil people, who have self respect and wisdom,” he said.Incidentally, the premises where the library was built was chosen by Jayalalithaa herself when she was chief minister during 2001-2006 to build a new secretariat complex. But her dream to build a new complex to house the state secretariat “that would be even better than the Vidhana Soudha (in Bangalore)” never materialised.In her statement today, Jayalalithaa said the decision to convert the library into a children’s hospital was taken during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, she said. By creating a super speciality hospital for children the state would ensure that it is a child welfare state, she added.The integrated intellectual park would be created in the DPI ( Directorate of Public Instruction ) campus in the city.