42nd Kolkata Book Fair to kick off today

Kolkata: The stage is set for the 42nd International Kolkata Book Fair, which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will inaugurate on Tuesday.

The Book fair is the second biggest festival in Bengal after Durga Puja, where thousands of people from all over the state come to the city to buy books. The focal theme country for 2018 is France.

This is for the first time that the fair will be held at Central Park in Salt Lake. The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), which earned the credit of hosting the Under 17 World Cup Football tournament, is hosting the fair for the first time.

Senior BMC officials headed by Pritha Sarkar, Commissioner and Sabyasachi Dutta, Mayor, held a series of meetings to make it a grand success. The fair will be held from January 31 to February 11.

The state Transport department will run 131 additional buses on weekdays and 177 buses on weekends to facilitate the visitors, particularly those who come from the districts by train and get down at either Howrah or Sealdah railway stations.

Senior officials of stare Fire and Emergency Services department visited the fair grounds on Monday and inspected the firefighting arrangements. Emergency exits have been set up and fire tenders will be posted at the venue. Bidhannagar police have made special arrangements for parking vehicles.

France Day will be observed on January 31, followed by Bangladesh Day on February 3, where some Russian authors will interact with Bengali authors.

This will be followed by Children's Day on February 4. The Kolkata literature festival will be held from February 8 to 10.

Well known publishers from the country and abroad are taking part in the fair along with their local counterparts. One of the major attractions are five books penned by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, including a book on rhymes for children.

Many publishers are reprinting some of the old books, including some famous nursery rhymes like those written by Jogindranath Sarkar, Sunirmal Basu and others. The vernacular publishers said they are trying to get the youth acquainted with Bengali literature.