Book Fair: Work for building stalls to start from Feb 10

KOLKATA: The work for construction of stalls and other necessary infrastructure for the 45th International Kolkata Book Fair at Central Park in Salt Lake will start from February 10.

The first survey of the ground was made by the core team members of Publishers and Book Sellers Guild that organises the Fair on Sunday afternoon. The Book Fair is scheduled to be held from February 28 to March 13.

There will be a special pavilion in the Book Fair as a mark of tribute to the famous personalities of the cultural fraternity who have passed away during COVID times. Apart from Dilip Kumar, Birju Maharaj, Buddhadev Guha, Sankha Ghosh to name a few, Lata Mangeshkar, who passed away Sunday, will also be honoured through the pavilion."We have reduced the size of the stalls this year so that we can offer space to some new publishers in the state in the Book Fair. We have decided to allow at least 600 odd stalls this year and after the survey we feel that space could be allocated to some 8 to 10 stalls more. Besides, there will be at least 200 little magazine stalls," Sudhansu Dey, president of Publishers and Book Sellers Guild said.

The Fair was last held two years back in January–February 2020. In 2021, the Fair could not be held due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation.The Fire and Emergency Services department has installed hydrants in the ground for prompt extinguishing of fire , in case of any such untoward incident.

The greenery in the ground has also been augmented and a number of trees have grown in size. Bangladesh being the theme country for this year's Book Fair there will be at least 45-50 stalls of Bangladesh. Some additional space has been allocated for the Bangladesh pavilion in the mela ground for this purpose. Last year, there was 35 odd stalls from Bangladesh. "There will be representation from the foreign embassies located in Kolkata. Talks are being held in this respect," Dey added.

With the sudden spike in COVID-19 cases, there was uncertainty over publishers from other states, coming to the International Kolkata Book Fair. But, with the situation improving across the country publishers from Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai have already confirmed their participation. Two halls will be dedicated for the national publishers.