Over 70,000 books from two publishers to be removed from TN public libraries

Chennai, Following controversies over authenticity of books published by two publishing houses, the Directorate of Public Libraries has ordered the removal of over 70,000 books from these publishers across 4,755 libraries in Tamil Nadu, official sources here on Saturday said.

The books are estimated to be worth several lakhs of rupees, they said.

The controversy gained momentum after the recent inauguration of Coimbatore Periyar Arivagam .

Writer Perumal Murugan had alleged that some books kept on display were fake, and that they were not even published by the stated publishers, and questioned how those books got there in the first place.

His accusation triggered a major controversy, and an inquiry was subsequently ordered by the state government.

An immediate order was issued to remove the controversial books allegedly published by "Agalvilaku and Phoenix" from the Coimbatore Periyar Arivagam. This order has since been executed, and currently, not a single book from these two publishers remains in the Coimbatore Periyar Arivagam, sources said.

In connection with the procurement of books for newly opened libraries such as the Trichy Kamaraj Library, the directorate issued instruction to inspect and verify the books from these two publishing houses in all libraries, they added.

The verification exercise led to the removal of about 70,000 controversial books allegedly belonging to "Agalvilaku and Phoenix" publications from all 4,755 libraries, with their value running into lakhs of rupees.

Additionally, out of the 162 libraries in Chennai, information has been released stating that about 2,260 books belonging to the controversial publications are being removed.

Apart from these two publishers across Tamil Nadu, information from the sources has also emerged that counterfeit books from other publishers were identified and listed, and the drive to remove such fake books was expected to continue in the coming days.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.