Tamil books priced at Rs 1,500, authors unheard of: Murugan

COIMBATORE: Tamil writer Perumal Murugan has accused the previous DMK regime of large-scale irregularities in the purchase of books for Coimbatore's Periyar Arivulagam.

He pointed out that nearly 2,000 books published by ‘Agal Vilakku’ had been stocked at the facility, despite Tamil Nadu having more than 100 publishing houses. He questioned the rationale behind procuring such a large collection from a single publisher.

Comparing the prices with prevailing rates in the Tamil publishing industry, Murugan said a 100-page book would generally cost around Rs 150, while publications by well-known authors might be priced at Rs 200. “However, several books at the library were priced at Rs 1,500 or more, nearly five times the usual rate,” he said.

He also questioned the quality and authenticity of the publications, claiming that several appeared to have been entirely generated using artificial intelligence. “The language did not resemble natural Tamil, while the authors named on the covers did not appear to have published any other works. These can only be described as fake books. The content, language and credentials of the authors raise serious doubts about their authenticity," he said.

Pointing out that several bundles remained unopened, Murugan said examining them could reveal further irregularities involving amounts running into crores of rupees.

He urged the State government to identify the distributors, officials who authorised the purchases and the owners of the publishing house, and take immediate action against those responsible.