COIMBATORE: Coimbatore Central Prison received 3,950 books under the book donation movement ‘Koondukkul Vaanam’ (Sky in the Cage) during the Coimbatore Book Fair. According to sources, considering the welfare of the inmates and to inculcate the habit of reading, the department of prisons and correctional services of Tamil Nadu started receiving book donations from the public. Based on the response, the department set up stalls at book fairs across the state under ‘Koondukkul Vaanam’ movement.
The Coimbatore Central Prison had set up a stall at the Tiruppur book fair in January for the first time.Similarly, in the Coimbatore book fair held at Codissia complex from July 21 to 30, the department had set up a separate stall for getting book donations and received 3,950 books.According to sources, Tamil books under the category of literature, novels and biographies were mostly donated, including historical fiction novels like Ponniyin Selvan and Velpari.
“The prison already has 5,000 books which were allotted by the department. Apart from that, they received around 5,000 books from te Tiruppur Book Festival and they receive books from the Coimbatore District central library on a rotation basis whenever needed,” said sources. It should be noted that the Coimbatore central prison introduced a digital library system for the use of inmates to improve their reading and listening habits in February.