-Edited by Pratyusha Mukherjee
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), through the 763 Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) under Project Vartak, has launched a network of Book Reading Outlets across schools and popular tourist destinations in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang district as part of a community outreach initiative.
The mini-libraries aim to promote reading, knowledge sharing and community participation among schoolchildren, local residents, tourists and travellers in the remote border region.
Based on the simple concept of “Take a Book, Leave a Book”, the initiative encourages readers to borrow books and contribute others in return, creating a self-sustaining community library system.
According to the BRO, the initiative has received a positive response from users. Schoolchildren have welcomed access to books beyond their academic curriculum, while tourists and local residents have appreciated the opportunity to engage with the reading spaces and contribute books for future readers.
The organisation said the Book Reading Outlets are envisioned as community spaces where people can exchange ideas and knowledge while encouraging a culture of reading. By locating the outlets at schools and tourist destinations, the BRO aims to make books more accessible and foster learning in the border district.
A representative of 763 BRTF said the initiative reflects the organisation’s broader role in connecting people as well as places. “BRO builds roads that connect places. Through the Book Reading Outlets, we hope to build another kind of connection—between people, ideas and aspirations. A road takes you from one place to another; a book can take you to an entirely different world,” the representative said.
The initiative forms part of the BRO’s wider community engagement efforts alongside its core responsibility of constructing and maintaining strategic road infrastructure in border areas. Officials said the network of Book Reading Outlets is expected to expand with support from the local community, with readers encouraged to donate books, recommend titles and share their reading experiences.
The BRO said the initiative aims to develop a community-supported network of reading spaces across Tawang, enabling knowledge and ideas to travel along the strategic roads that connect the region.
