Visitors donate books to Prison dept at Chennai Book Fair

CHENNAI: The stall set up by the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services of Tamil Nadu received a good response from the visitors at the 48th Chennai Book Fair, which concluded on Sunday (January 12).

When all other stalls were selling books, visitors thronged the prison stall to donate their books to cultivate reading habits among prisoners.

“Though a good number of books were donated this year, last year, it was slightly higher. This year, the crowd is less when compared to the last fair. Both new and old books from all genres were donated,” said a staff member in the stall.

When this reporter asked Prakash K, a visitor to the stall, why he donated so many books, he said: “I’ve already read these books. Just keeping them on the shelf wouldn’t make any change. This initiative taken from the Prison department will have a positive impact on them. The books I donated will help them.” The donated books will be taken to the various prison libraries across the State.

On the closing day of the book fair, Supreme Court Justice R Mahadevan felicitated the donors and institutions who had supported and helped in organising the fair. He also felicitated publishers who had celebrated their centenary, golden and silver jubilee in the industry.

SK Murugan, BAPASI secretary, said in a press note: “Around 20 lakh people visited the fair and books worth about Rs 20 crore were sold this year.” Last year, there were 15 lakh visitors, and books worth Rs 18 crore had been sold.

This year, 900 stalls had been set up and the book fair was held for 17 days. A minimum of 10% discount was given to all the books in every stall. “The book fair helps me to collect a variety of books. Soon, I’ll be retiring, I’ve bought books that I can read during my retirement life,” smiled Radhakrishnan, a visitor.