To Pay Homage To APJ Abdul Kalam, Central Railway Introduces Mobile Library On Its Two Iconic Trains 

On Monday (15 October), Education Minister of Maharashtra Vinod Tawde inaugurated a ‘Library on Wheels’ in the Central Railways run Deccan Queen and Panchavati Express trains on, The New Indian Express has reported.

The service is a joint initiative of the Maharashtra education department and Indian Railways.

At the inauguration, Tawde said that these two intercity trains will allow monthly season ticket holders between Mumbai-Pune and Mumbai-Manmad to use a mobile library. He said that this would give the passengers an option to read books and magazine while travelling. The passengers will have to return the books before they de-board the train.

“The passengers will be provided books by the volunteers of the Marathi Vikas Sanstha. The volunteers will also collect feedback from the passengers about the choice of books and act to make changes in the books accordingly”, a state government official was reported as saying.

The mobile library was inaugurated on 15 October to mark former president APJ Abdul Kalam’s birthday, which included celebrations in form Maharashtra government’s ‘Reading Inspiration Day’.

A ‘reading hour’ was observed in the state administrative headquarters on this occasion. A speech of late Marathi author and playwright PL Despande was read by the minister as part of the programme.