40th Kolkata book fair concludes at Milan Mela

The 40th edition of Kolkata International Book Fair ended on Sunday amidst various ceremonies and cultural programme at Milan Mela Ground. 

According to the Publishers and Booksellers Guild officials, books worth nearly Rs 19 crore have been sold and around 20 lakh people visited the fair till Saturday. However, the unit sale did not increase from the last year. 

Tridib Chatterjee, a senior official of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild (PBG), announced that next year the Kolkata book fair will be held from January 25 to February 5.  

Many dignitaries, educationists, book lovers and students attended the closing ceremony on Sunday evening. 

PBG had introduced lottery system to increase sale of books. 

Names of lottery winners were announced on Sunday at the closing ceremony. There were car gifts also. 

It may be mentioned here that the PBG had arranged free transport facility for the book lovers from Minal Mela Ground to Park Circus. 

Various folk dances were organised inside the Milan Mela. Several college students participated in various cultural programmes. 

Youngsters were seen busy taking selfies with their favourite authors. All the foot courts inside the ground had seen record number of footfall. Various glittering ceremonies which were organised at the book fair not only attracted the attention of the youth, senior citizens also congregated in front of the various stalls to enjoy the last the moments of 2016 book fair. 

There was heavy crowd from Milan Mela Ground since afternoon. A large number of people from various parts of the country started coming after 1 pm. There were special arrangements of buses at various routes. Most of the buses leading to the Book Fair were crowded.