The 21st Neyveli Book Fair, which had been a happy hunting ground for book lovers, honoured authors and publishers, and served up varied cultural entertainment over the past ten days, concluded on Sunday.
Addressing the valedictory session, Rakesh Kumar, Director/Finance, NLC India Limited, said over 2 lakh people, including schoolchildren, visited the Neyveli Book Fair.
Besides, an estimated 50,000 children drawn from nearby schools who visited the fair were provided with water bottles, biscuit packets and fruit drinks by the NLCIL management.
The book fair’s success lay in that it served as a bridge between the general public and the literary world, the official said.
Cuddalore Collector V.P. Dhandapani suggested that the NLCIL management host a smaller scale book fair in the township through the year to cater to the reading needs of students and the general public.
Bemoaning the waning reading habit among children today due to the visual media and proliferation of smartphones, he said books such as ‘Thirumandiram’ of Thirumoolar, ‘Thiruvarutpa’ of Vallalar and ‘Thirukkural’ of Thiruvalluvar laid down the principles to be practised in life in a lucid manner. Parents should see that their children read these books and other self-development books penned by internationally renowned writers, Mr. Dhandapani suggested. In fact, he owned a personal collection of over 10,000 books on different subjects, he added.
CSR activities
Commending the various community development initiatives undertaken by NLC India Limited, especially in the field of education, health and skilling of youth, the Collector said during his meetings with the public to redress their grievances, he received several representations seeking welfare measures out of the NLCIL CSR funds. This, he said, showed that the public were well aware of the CSR activities being carried out by the company.
While NLCIL was contributing much to the economic development of the nation by generating power through effective utilisation of available resources, it was also contributing its mite towards the development of the community, he said.
V. Thangapandian, Director/Power and R. Vikraman, Director/HR of NLCIL, participated in the function.
An e-Souvenir to mark the 21st Neyveli Book Fair was released at the valedictory function by the Collector.
Prize winners of the ‘Waste Management Awareness Short Film competition’ were awarded certificates and mementos. The function concluded with a light music programme by V. Krishnamurthy’s music troupe.