Banned guidebooks flood markets in Lalmonirhat

Despite ban, illegal guidebooks for school students have flooded the markets in the district town.
The books are being sold openly at different markets in five upazilas at higher prices, alleged guardians and teachers.
One can easily collect those from the shops at Railway Bazar Road, Puran Bazar Road, Station Road, Thana Road and Mission Crossing in the town, they said.
The authorities banned printing, import, sale and distribution of all kinds of notebooks and guidebooks in April 1980.
Guardians Mobarok Hossain of Sadar upazila and Afzal Hossain of Aditmari upazila alleged that a few teachers were encouraging students to buy the guidebooks. The publishers and booksellers are leading the malpractice, they said.
Guardians Mominul Islam of Puran Bazar and Shohidur Rahman of Thana Para in the town and teachers Abu Based Miah and Samsul Islam of Sadar upazila, told this correspondent that the situation worsened for lack of monitoring by the administration.
The education board should take urgent steps to stop this illegal business, they observed.
A shopkeeper at Railway Bazar said he had been selling the guidebooks since the beginning of the New Year.
Many publishers were printing the books secretly and selling those in the markets at higher prices, he said.
Another bookseller in Aditmari upazila town said that they charged higher rates from the buyers as the books are being sold secretly besides their high demand.
Ashraf Hossain, a library owner at Thana Road, said they suffer a lot for a few unscrupulous businessmen. Mobile court raids all libraries, often disrupting our sale, he said.
A mobile court led by executive magistrate Hafizur Rahman fined four retailers at Railway Bazar Road a few days ago for selling the banned guidebooks.
Contacted, the magistrate said that the drive will continue until the illegal business is totally stopped.