Rains fail to dampen spirit of book lovers as 5 lakh people throng Book Fair on 5th day

Kolkata: Despite two days of rainy weather, the 44th Kolkata International Book Fair on Sunday witnessed a footfall of around 5 lakh.

According to the publishers and booksellers participating in the fair, during the last two years response from the book lovers was not very high. Though they were afraid that rains may destroy the mood of the fair, but the scene on Saturday and Sunday proved it wrong.

Despite two days of bank strike on Friday and Saturday, many people visited bookstalls and bought books of their choices. But several people faced a problem regarding the unavailability of adequate money.

Though State Bank of India (SBI) has set up an ATM counter inside the fairground, but that did was not able to provide money to everyone. Several people were seen requesting the booksellers to keep aside their choices of books as they would return after the strike with money and buy those books.

"We did not expect such a good response compared to 2018 and 2019. The bank strike affected the people most," said a publisher cum bookseller.

Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey, general secretary of the Publishers and Book Sellers Guild said: "It is very much true that the footfall in the fair has increased. On Saturday approximately three lakh people and on Sunday around five lakh people visited the fair."

However, he claimed that booksellers are facing some problems over internet connections. Dey informed that while paying the prices online, buyers are facing problem for not having a proper network. Also, booksellers are having problems while using Point Of Sale (POS) terminals which need uninterrupted internet service.

This apart, during the two days bank strike, several people were seen at the fair on Friday and Saturday, but most of them had only come to use the ATM there.

"Either ATMs are closed or have no cash. I came to know that this ATM counter has cash and thus came here," said a resident of Salt Lake.