COIMBATORE: To inculcate reading habits in public, city police launched ‘Auto Thambi’, a mobile library in auto-rickshaws on Friday. A Book Donation Station to receive books from the public was also inaugurated on the premises of the Police Commissionerate.
On a pilot basis, the mobile library was launched in the autorickshaw of Syed of Teacher’s Colony near Thudiyalur. Commenting on the initiative police commissioner V Balakrishnan said, “In coming days, library will be set up in 2,000 auto-rickshaws. It will have newspapers, magazines, chocolates for children, face masks, hand sanitiser, trash bin, and drinking water. Our goal is to make passengers read while travelling, rather than use phones. We have already established street libraries in a few locations in the city and this would be expanded soon.” The commissioner donated around 30 books to the Book Donation Station.
In support of this project, the Dr Kalam Foundation offered to fund the interior design of the auto-rickshaws to keep the books. C Kishore, managing trustee of Kalam Foundation, said, “More than 2,000 auto-rickshaws are operating in the city and they constitute a significant form of public transportation. Using these autos, we hope to promote the reading habit among public.
With the help of other NGOs and organizations, we will initially implement the facility in 50 auto rickshaws and will expand it to all other autorickshaws, later.” The books will be rotated once a week and the newspapers and magazines will be replaced regularly by the drivers.