Agartala, Jan 31 : Officials of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), along with Tripura Police, seized pirated NCERT books that were being sold to students in bookshops in Agartala, officials said on Friday.

A team of NCERT officials led by its Chief Business Manager Amitabha Kumar conducted raids in several bookshops in Agartala for the past two days and seized many counterfeit textbooks.

Kumar said that a joint team of NCERT officials from Delhi and the Guwahati regional office conducted raids in several bookshops in Agartala and found pirated textbooks being sold to the students illegally.

He said that the raids were conducted following complaints from the guardians to the NCERT regarding counterfeit books being sold in Agartala.

"We have surveyed the market and with police assistance, raided the shops identified in the complaints," Kumar told the media.

The official said that the fake books were printed on substandard 50 GSM (Grams per Square Metre) paper, unlike the genuine NCERT books, which are printed on 80 GSM paper.

Noting the financial incentives behind the illegal sale of pirated textbooks, he said that while NCERT offers a 20 per cent profit margin, the publishers printing these counterfeit textbooks, offer up to 40 per cent, making them more appealing to book vendors.

"The NCERT books have watermarks while pirated books didn't have the imprint and also did not match other specifications of NCERT books. The shop owners didn't have any proper bills for the books," Kumar said.

The NCERT official said that strict legal action would be taken against those involved in the illegal trade. A section of guardians accused the officials of the state's Education Department of an indifferent attitude over these illegal activities in NCERT book trades. The NCERT officials often conducted raids in the other cities of the country against such pirated textbooks.

/IANS