CM Stalin opens mega book park at Chennai Central Metro station
CHENNAI: As part of the efforts to bring books closer to the public, CM M K Stalin on Tuesday inaugurated a mega book park set up by Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation (TNTB&ESC) at a cost of Rs 1.85 crore at the Chennai Central Metro station.
To encourage early footfall and purchases, books other than school textbooks are also being sold at 10% discount at present.
Spread across 5,000 sqft, the book park features stalls by publishers in multiple languages, a cafeteria, a reading area, and a mini hall to host book release events. Designed to accommodate about 10 readers at a time, the park will house 5,000 titles and 15,000 books.
The TNTB&ESC will pay the rent for the space to the Chennai Metro Rail Limited, while the private publishers who have stalls will share their revenue with the corporation, said T Sankara Saravanan, joint director of Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation.
Officials said the Central Metro Station was chosen as it has high footfall, and TNTB&ESC will decide on establishing more such book parks.
This initiative is part of the efforts by the school education department to improve the reading habit among the general public. The book park will offer a wide range of publications, including Tamil, English and other language books from various publishers; almost all the books published by TNTB&ESC.
The CM also launched the corporation's new website for online book sales and released 84 books published under various government schemes.
The revamped website, www.tntextbooksonline.com, will allow the corporation to sell books not only in Tamil Nadu but also across India and internationally, said officials.
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