Balurghat: Book fair to be held from Jan 25

Balurghat: The District Book Fair will start at Balurghat High School ground on January 25. It will be continued till January 30. A full-fledged book fair committee has already been set up to carry out the entire process.

"There will be some restrictions for the book lovers due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," District Information and Cultural Officer, Santanu Chakraborty, said.

According to him, social distancing norms will be strictly followed at the fair.

"No one will be allowed to enter the fairground without a face mask. A proper sanitisation process will be conducted at the entry point. There will be no procession and cultural

programme. Any gathering is strictly prohibited," he said.

Primarily, it has been decided that eminent booksellers and publishers from Kolkata will be invited to set up stalls at the Book Fair. A total of 50 stalls will be set up. There will be no entry fee for the visitors.

The fairground will remain open from 12 noon to 8 pm every day.

"If our next generation develops an aversion towards books in this age dominated by social media and Smartphone, then instead of them we should blame ourselves for not being able to inculcate the habit of reading in them," said the editor of a local newspaper, Rahul Bagchi.