Shibu B S By Express News Service KOCHI: City denizens taking the Kochi Metro often spend several minutes at the station and in the train. While using the phone to kill time is an option, it is one not many want to choose.For them, Kochi Metro Rail Ltd has come up with the plan to start bookstalls at major stations. The aim is to allow people to buy books and help them make better use of the time that they spend waiting to reach their destinations. As part of the plan, KMRL will grant licences for operating bookstalls at the Aluva, Edappally, M G Road and Maharaja’s College metro stations. It has also invited ‘Request for Proposal’ from interested parties for licensing bookstall spaces inside select metro stations. The licence will be allotted for a seven-year period.“The primary responsibility of the bidder will be developing a bookstall with state-of-the-art facility in the available space,” said a KMRL officer. KMRL decided to float tenders to open bookshops after getting inputs from passengers on their preferences.“During an interactive session, many passengers pointed out the lack of entertainment during their journey. We also realised that there were many who did not want to be glued to their mobile phones to kill time while travelling. Interestingly, many of them suggested books as a solution,” said a KMRL officer.He said a Thykoodam-bound passenger who enters the train from Aluva metro station spends 40 minutes inside the metro train. “Hence, we are not looking for a big book shop that offers passengers the space to sit and read. The concept is to set up a state-of-art bookstall with a good collection of books. We know there are some good airport reads (books to read while waiting at the airport). We hope to develop a similar culture among our passengers and nurture the readers in them,” said the officer.He said KMRL was expecting some leading publishing houses to express interest in setting up the facility inside the metro stations. The bidder can quote for one or more locations.

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