Govt urged to give price discount to buy books

 Welcoming the state government's allotment of Rs 5.6 cr in this year's budget to hold book fair in all districts, many readers said that the fund should properly used.At the ongoing Erode Book Festival at Erode CN College, Navarasam Arts college for women Tamil HoD Dr Thilakavathy wanted the government to give subsidy to book publishers directly to reduce the price of books which rose by 40 to 50 percent due to steep rise in production cost.

She suggested to the government to give 20 percent special discount on book price to help readers, as given by it for sales of handloom cloth round the year, in the book fairs in addition to 10 percent given by the publishers. The government can also influence the GST Council to reduce the GST on paper to 12 from 18 percent, to reduce the price of books, she pleaded. 

She suggested to keep separate space for children's books, subject oriented text books for college and school students in the Erode book fair so that people could easily find their books. Now due to huge rush they were not able to visit all shops in the fair, she suggested.