‘At least 200 additional buses to ply for 47th International Book Fair’

 From cab pick up and drop points to hanging of auto fare boards with helpline, all transport arrangements have been put in place for the 47th International Book Fair, which will be held from January 18 to January 31.

The general secretary of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey on Wednesday said that all possible arrangements for one of the biggest book fairs have been made. “The network provider agencies have reached the venue and are setting up the system to ensure that last year’s complaint of poor network does not persist this year,” he said.

Further, the app cab pick up and drop booths have been fixed near gate number one of the Boimela Prangan. Apart from that both government and private buses will run in full strength to ensure the visitors do not face any hassle. At least 200 additional buses will be plied to different locations, including Sealdah and Howrah Railway Station, Thakurpukur, Baruipur, Barasat, Dankuni, Belgachia, Jadavpur and Barrackpore among others. The Transport minister said that since six days of the fair fall on holidays, they are expecting more crowds this year. Last year, 26 lakh people visited the book fair.

Furthermore, buses will remain available till 10 pm to ensure that staff and people associated with the fair are able to return home safely. The timing for the book fair is 12 pm to 8 pm. There will also remain some reserved buses, like last year, for emergency situations.

The state Transport minister Snehasis Chakraborty had earlier said that like bus fare charts are displayed at Karunamoyee Bus Stand, which is located beside Boi Mela Prangan, the department had decided to display auto fare charts at auto stand and on prangan’s gates. The charts will also have a helpline number, which the visitors can contact in case auto drivers demand extra fare and accordingly action will be taken.

At least 80 services, including 40 East-bound and 40 West-bound, will be run on Sundays between January 18 and January 28. On the mentioned days, Metro services will be available from 12:55 pm to 10 pm. Within this time, from 2:55 pm to 9:19 pm, Metro services will be available at an interval of 12 minutes during the fair days.

Metro Railway will run additional services from Monday to Saturday during the mentioned period. Instead of 106 services, they will run 120 which includes 60 East-bound and 60 West-bound.

Services during the weekdays will be available from 6:55 am to 10 pm. From 2:55 pm to 9:19 pm, services will be available at an interval of 12 minutes. First services from Sealdah will be available at 6:55 am and Salt Lake Sector V at 7 am while the last service from Sealdah will be at 9:35 pm and from Salt Lake Sector V at 9:40 pm.