PUNE: Snehal Joshi, an electrical engineer by profession, has donated 4,000 books from her collection to several libraries in Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur where the books were damaged or washed away due to the heavy rains and floods in August.

Joshi runs a library called ‘Anand Library’ in Anand Nagar on Sinhagad Road and has more than 4,000 books in her collection. 

A successful businesswoman who has won many awards, Joshi had collected books and started this library in 1993. 

The books are a mix of Hindi, Marathi and English, ranging from novels, poems, history books and other. As a result, the library will now be closed forever, as Joshi said she has no plans to start afresh. 

“Reading and collecting books is my hobby and it took me more than 25 years to gather these many books,” said Joshi on giving away her entire collection to the flood-affected areas in the State.

Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad had called for the donation of books to the flood-affected areas to help re-establish the literary properties lost in the flood. 

The parishad coordinated the transfer of books from Pune to the flood-affected areas.