KOCHI: Books worth Rs 1.27 crore have been distributed free of cost among school students who visited the Krithi International Book Fair and Knowledge Festival, being held at Marine Drive here, till Friday.
The books were distributed under the ‘One book for each student’ scheme. Organisers of the fair, which began on February 6, aim at distributing books worth Rs 1.5 crore to students by the fair’s conclusion on Sunday.
“We also sold books worth Rs 25 lakh in the past eight days. The stall selling literature for children has sold books worth around Rs 7 crore,” said National Book Stall Ernakulam branch manager T R Subeesh.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will visit the book fair on Saturday and inaugurate a discussion on ‘Challenges faced by democracy in India’ at G Sankara Kurup Hall at 3pm. Cooperation and Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran will preside over the function.