Govt hasn’t procured books for libraries for four years now, local bodies owe department ₹526.83 crore collected as library cess

The last time the Department of Public Libraries (DPL), which runs 1,131 public libraries in the State, bought books was in 2021 and never again in the last four years.

This has not only rendered these libraries outdated, but has also dealt a major blow to the Kannada publishing industry. The crux of the problem lies in how the local bodies, which collect a Library Cess as part of the property tax, do not regularly transfer them to the DPL. This has been an issue for decades now and at the end of the 2024-25 financial year, DPL has an outstanding of a whopping ₹526.83 crore.

As on March 31, 2025, the local bodies were supposed to transfer ₹827.42 crore in library cess, which includes cess collected in 2024-25 and the backlog from previous years. However, only ₹300.59 crore has been transferred till date, leaving an outstanding of ₹526.83 crore.

The biggest defaulter has been the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), which had a total outstanding of ₹691.85 crore, of which it paid only ₹230.81 crore. Now the outstanding stands at ₹461.04 crore, which will be now divided into five corporations formed in September, 2025. The second big defaulter has been Mysuru with an outstanding of ₹20.49 crore.

This was revealed by the Minister for School Education and Literacy (DSEL) Madhu Bangarappa, responding to a question from MLC A. H. Vishwanath, during the recently concluded Winter session of the Karnataka Legislature held in Belagavi.

Publishers plan protest

Several Kannada publishers, hit by the DPL not buying books for four years now, are mulling to take to the streets and hold a protest over the issue. They allege that DPL hasn’t made enough efforts to collect outstanding Library Cess and revamp public libraries across the State. “Our sources say that the DPL hasn’t even written a single letter to the Urban Development Department over the last two years, asking it to transfer Library Cess they collected,” a publisher said.

“The DPL also has an outstanding of ₹6.86 crore to publishers and writers for the books it has already procured. It has made little efforts to collect the library cess, paralysing the entire department. Repeated representations to the ministers have been of no avail. Recently, in November, a meeting was held with us, where it was promised that all issues will be sorted out in 20 days. But nothing has come of it even after over a month. We are left with no option but to stage a protest demonstration against the government,” Srushti Nagesh, a publisher, said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Bangarappa responding to Mr. Vishwanath’s question in the Karnataka Legislative Council, said the process of procuring books published in 2022 was being finalised, and that a proposal has been made to the government to form a selection committee to procure books published in 2023 and 2024, which would be formed soon.