BENGALURU: The Karnataka Kannada Writers and Publishers Association has said that the Department of Public Libraries (DPL) is yet to settle Rs 8 crore it owes to several publishers in the state.
The association’s president Nidasale Puttaswamaiah told TNIE, “We have been requesting commissioner Basavarajendra H to settle the pending bills, but nothing has been done. Sadly, the department hasn’t purchased a single book from the publishers and printers in our association.”
“Twelve years ago, the government implemented a scheme ‘Sagatu Pustaka Karidi Yojane’ under which the DPL would purchase 300 books in bulk selected by the Book Selection Committee every year. Once thwey publish the list of books, they can purchase and settle the total bill with the respective publishers. These 300 books are further sent to 46 district and city central libraries across the state,” he said.
However, this has not occurred for the past four years. Puttaswamaiah slammed the department for publishing the selected book list for the year 2020 only on March 31, 2024 and purchased them as well. "There was a total bill of Rs 15 crores out of which eight crores is pending which has to be paid to 500 publishers in the association. It has been more than a year and the publishers want their amount to be settled amid rising prices and GST on papers, ink and maintenance. Sagatu Pustaka Karidi Yojane was introduced by the government only to encourage readers in Kannada language and also publishers and printers to publish and print the books in Kannada, " he added.
Puttaswamaiah said, "The department has selected books for the year 2022 but has not published the list yet. Similarly, they are yet to select the books for the year 2023 and 2024. If they select the list of books then the approximate figure of the bill would come up to Rs 40 crores. Since the department of public libraries keep mentioning the reason of lack of funds to purchase books, we have also made some suggestions to the department as well as the government."
He explained, "As per the rules, the state government provides money through finance department to purchase the books under the above mentioned yojane. Though it is not allowed to pay for the books from the library tax collected by the State Library Authority, we have suggested to the department as well as the government to make amendments in the rules in a way that the State Library Authority has to pay 10 percent of the 6 percent library tax collected in the state for the purchase of these 300 books."
When TNIE contacted, Basavarajendra, Commissioner of Department of Public Libraries and asked about the pending bill and failing to purchase in the past four years, he said, "It is not true, we will discuss it with the publishers and settle the issue."