VIJAYAWADA: The two-day free book distribution by Andhra Pradesh Library Association (APLA), received a huge response here on Sunday at Sarvotthama Grandhalayam compound.
The APLA collects various books from donors and distributes them free of cost every year. This programme was started on 23rd April 2015 on the eve of World Book Day. The purpose of the organisers is to develop the book reading habit among the public and students.
At this Old Book Fair, anybody can come and take away three books from the exhibited books. Apart from the normal lot, books on various disciplines, including logic, philosophy, religion, spirituality, social sciences, languages, sciences, engineering, medicine, arts, the literature of Telugu, English, Hindi, history, children's literature, personality development and many more such fields, have been put up for distribution. More than 25,000 books were distributed freely and around 9,000 people visited the Old Book Fair and have taken books in which they are interested.
Many people brought their old books to donate and dropped them in the Book Handi kept on the premises. “It's a very well thought and well intended project and everybody should appreciate the organisers. We got a 100-year-old book at the fair, very rare collections were showcased. Our children collected story and rhyme books," said Venna Prasanthi, a book lover from Kanur. "I had taken lovely books the previous year also, the organisers should increase the days from 2 to 5 days at least.” “Career books showcased here are very useful,” said B. Manikumari, a teacher from Ramavarappadu.
"Literature should reach all levels of society, the APLA program is doing the best work and such programmes should be organised by others too drawing inspiration from APLA," said Pranavananda, Patamata.
"We are 35 student volunteers from our school and are very happy to serve the public. Many people preferred to take devotional books, the middle-aged prefer novels by several eminent writers and the children wanted storybooks," said SK. Reshma, a student, Govindarajulu Dharma Enam Trust High School, Patamata.
“Though it's a risk to collect and to distribute the books, we are doing it in a better way and completing it successfully every year. We started with 6,000 books in 2015, and this year, we distributed around 25,000 books and are thankful to the donors. Every reader who has taken the books is happy," said Dr Ravi Sarada, secretary, APLA. APLA teams opened 33 libraries in Srikakulam district for the convenience of public.
