KOLKATA: The state has given clearance for inauguration of the International Kolkata Book Fair on February 28 and the fair is likely to continue till March 13 if the pandemic situation does not deteriorate.
Earlier scheduled from January 31, the book fair was deferred by a month due to the civic polls. As the state election commissioner pushed back the polls for four municipal corporations — Bidhannagar, Chandernagore, Asansol and Siliguri — by three weeks to February 12 instead of January 22, the book fair at Salt Lake’s Central Park was also deferred for technical reasons.
An official said as polls of 107 municipalities are due on February 27, the state government, keeping in mind the police requirement for the elections, has given the nod for holding the fair after the polls of February 27. Moreover, he said that with the civic polls being over, there will be no model code of conduct and the chief minister can then inaugurate the book fair. Some of her books are also likely to be launched at the fair like in previous years, sources said.
The book fair, which was earlier held on the Maidan grounds and later shifted to the Milan Mela ground, was subsequently moved to Central Park in 2018.
The organizers had invited Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to inaugurate the fair this time. But the Covid surge upset the plans because many booksellers were in two minds about participating during the pandemic. “We cannot hold the fair till the polls are over. Civic polls are scheduled on February 12 and the administration will clamp Section 144 in the area. The prohibition measure will restrict book lovers from paying a visit to the fair. We, therefore, have no other option but to defer the fair,” said Tridib Chatterjee, general secretary, Publishers and Booksellers Guild.
Chatterjee said the guild had invited the Bangladesh PM, but now it seemed that Hasina will inaugurate the fair online.
Sudhangshu Dey, another organizer of the Kolkata book fair, said they had held talks with the state over the date after the government gave a go-ahead to organising the fair.
Earlier, several Covid measures were announced, including mandatory double-vaccination, for visitors to the book fair this time.
