Books worth about Rs 4 crore sold in North Bengal Book Fair

Siliguri: Despite a large number of visitors flocking to the North Bengal Book Fair held at Kanchenjunga Stadium, less quantity of books were sold in the fair as compared to last year.

Last year, books worth Rs 5 crore were sold in this book fair. This year it has reduced to about Rs 4 crore.

Disappointed over this, organisers of the book fair are also trying to find out the cause of the reduction.

According to book sellers and buyers, the price of books has increased this year, which is a major reason for the reduction. An addition was the availability of books online.

Ashish Bandyopadhyay, Joint Secretary of North Bengal Book Fair Committee, said: “Many people visited the book fair and a huge number of tickets were sold. Although, compared to last year, less quantity of books have been sold. Now people can also get books online which might have affected the fair. Price of books has also increased this year. However, we are assessing the cause.”

North Bengal Book Fair was one of the largest book fairs in North Bengal which was organised by Greater Siliguri Publisher and Book Seller’s Welfare Association. The 41st edition of the fair kicked off on December 8 and ended on December 17.

Books sellers from all the districts of North Bengal attended the fair. Eminent publishers also came with their books.

There were 82 stalls out of which 67 stalls were for books and the rest were for other accessories like jewellery and handcrafted products. A total of 60,000 tickets were sold for

the fair.

Salini Ghosh, a buyer, said: “The price of books has increased this year. Books in the English language were very costly. Last year I bought 5 books, but this year I bought only one book.”