The publishers are also experiencing a difficult time in fighting the illegal business of pirated local books. As a matter of fact some renowned publishers and book importers are on the verge of shutting down their business, as they cannot compete with the dishonest trend.

"Our investment is huge because we give royalty to the writers and spend money on marketing the publication. Having gone through all that, you can imagine our frustration when we find cheap pirated versions of our books displayed on the shelves of bookstores," said Kamrul Hasan Mallik of Mallik and Brothers.

Sale of pirated books in the city continues unhindered as the government apparently has no control over this practice. The city's Nilkhet area has been dubbed as the 'den' of all kinds of pirated books and they are sold openly there. Pirated books are also available in Bangla Bazar, New Market and a good number of bookstores in the city. While some shops do not put them on display, they can easily provide pirated publication on demand.

At different intersections of the capital, street children, men and women can be spotted selling pirated versions of the work of popular writers these days.

Photocopied imitations of famous Indian novelists are the most sought-after. Anandabazar, a reputed publishing house in Kolkata has virtually stopped exporting books to Bangladesh because of piracy.

"Even novels, which are published in the special editions of Desh magazine (an Anandabazar publication), get the form of a book here long before they appear in the market," said Manirul Haque of Anonnya Prokashoni.

According to a report published in the mass circulated Indian newspaper The Hindu, export of Indian books and periodicals to Bangladesh showed an eight percent decline in revenue earning in 2001-02, compared to the year before.

With the cost of production being less here, several Bangladeshi publishers print copies of Indian books and send them back across the border. The illegal versions are then sold in India, often at half the price of the original book.

"Earlier, we used to import books worth around 1.5 crore Taka a year. It has now come down to Tk 70 lakh," informed Nurul Islam Azad, an importer of Paragon Enterprise Limited.

Piracy is rampant in all types of books ranging from fictions, non-fictions to educational publications like textbooks for primary and secondary schools originally printed by the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB), medical, engineering and university materials.

Pirated copies of Bangla novels like Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad, which became a sellout after the stabbing of its author Humayun Azad, Ka by Taslima Nasreen and Humayun Ahmed's works in general are available at every nook and cranny of the country.

"Even if the demand is for 50 copies, an unscrupulous publisher is likely to go for piracy. They just make photocopies of the content and market the book withcoloured cover. Any book that has demand will definitely be pirated. There is no doubt about that," said Kamrul Hasan Mallik.

Booksellers complained that publishers involved in piracy were getting more organised by the day.

"A syndicate of around 30 publishers in Dhaka is engaged in this crime. They have spread their business outside the capital also and operate without any fear of the law," said a publisher wishing not to be named.

"These books are printed after the text had been put on tracing paper from photocopies of the original version.

Production cost becomes very low this way. If an original book costs Tk 200 we can sell the pirated copy easily at Tk 80," said a bookseller at Nilkhet on condition of anonymity.

Pirated editions of best sellers like the Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling, Brick Lane by Monica Ali and A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell are available at several traffic points in the capital at remarkably cheap rates.

"I believe you can get the very latest My Life by Bill Clinton on the streets in Dhaka even though it only came out in the USA last week," said Nurul Islam Azad.

Some avid readers who can not afford to buy the original editions said that they actually benefited from piracy because of the low cost although there could be glaring errors and flaws found in counterfeit books.

"I bought a copy of God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy and after going trough around a hundred pages I suddenly discovered pages printed in inverse which was impossible to read," said Parveen Sultana, a medical student.

Publishers at Bangla Bazar said that some 7,000 publishing houses in the country suffer because of piracy and they were desperately seeking an intervention from the government.

"The government can put an end to this illegal business. If police raid bookshops at Nilkhet and other well-known centres of pirated publication, they can easily seize the books and arrest the criminals," said Manirul Haque.

ASM Shah Alam, vice president of Bangladesh Publishers and Booksellers Association denied the allegation that a section of publishers were involved in piracy.

"It is mostly the sellers who pirate books and then shift the blame on the publishers," said Alam.

Alam also claimed that they had already formulated a policy to counter piracy and now working on its implementation.

"We have sat with the Bangladesh Bank, the finance minister and the commerce minister to find a solution for piracy. Now, we are planning to go for an extensive campaign," he added.