Chennai: The Jaigopal Garodia Charitable Book Bank in Anna Nagar in the city has been distributing free college books to students of various streams and colleges for the past 18 years.
As a part of their 19th year of free book distribution, 200 students from various colleges across the city were issued free books on 21 July at a function organised by the Jaigopal Trust.
Similar to the previous years, the organisers said around 10,000 students would benefit from the scheme this year.
Talking about the activities of the book bank to ‘News Today’, managing trustee of Jaigopal Garodia Vivekananda Vidyalaya Trust, Ashok Kediaji, said,”The book bank grew by leaps and bounds and has seen a tremendous growth in the past 18 years. It was established in 2000 and nearly 96,000 students from various colleges have benefited so far. The trust has spent Rs 87 lakh towards the purchase of books so far.”
Praising the students, Ashok said, “Since its inception, the book bank has not faced any problem. There is 100 per cent honesty among the students in returning the books. The only hassle is the occasional delay in return of books. But the problem can be sorted out with the cooperation of students.”
“Many beneficiaries of the book bank are now well-placed in leading companies. So far, among the beneficiaries, there are seven university first rank-holders and gold medalists. The book bank is leading towards its vicennial anniversary (20th anniversary) and will cross one lakh beneficiaries very soon,” he added
Additional Commissioner Commercial Taxes Yamuna Devi Arun was the chief guest for the event and she stressed on the importance of education through various quotes of eminent people like Bharathiyar, Swami Vivekananda, Thiruvalluvar, Frost and Einstein. She said, “The philanthropic activities of the trust’s founder chairman, Jaigopal Garodia, were laudable and should continue.”