'Books Village' of Bhilar in Maharashtra a big hit with bibliophiles

The small village of Bhilar, also known as 'Books Village', has set an example worth emulating for others by a creating a library in almost every household.

"This concept was brought to India by Vinod Tawde. He had visited a village in London, where he saw a lot of books on display in houses. He then chose this village for the project and built this library with the help of the locals," said bookkeeper Tejaswi Jatin of Bhilar.

The books have been categorised and scattered across 30 houses in the village. The visitors can freely move and read books wherever they want.

"Most of the books here are Baal Sahitya in the Marathi because most of the people who come here are students. We are also adding more books," added Jatin.

People from across the state visit the village and spend hours reading these books.

"People these days spend most of their on their mobile phones playing games or on social media. I urge people from across the country to come here and spend time reading books," said Santosh Ganpat Sawant, a frequent visitor to the Book Village.

The word is out. And more and more people are coming to the village and spending their time reading these books.

"I had heard that there is a village maintaining a library in several houses. I was curious. So I came here to see for myself. The people have maintained a peaceful environment and facility for the book lovers," said Sumit Chandrakant Kumar, a visitor from a nearby village.