New Town Mela 2018 inaugurated, to continue till January 1

Kolkata: New Town Mela and Boi Mela were inaugurated on Friday evening. The fair will continue till January 1, 2019.

The fair has been organised by Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO), New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) and New Town Boi Mela committee. This is for the first time that the New Town Mela and Boi Mela have been merged. The joint fair is being held at the New Town mela ground.

There will be 150 book stalls where well known publishers will take part. There will be a three day poetry festival from December 22 to 24. On December 23 and 24, around 60 poets will read their poems.

On December 24, poets from other languages will read out their poems. There will be poets who write in Hindi and those from Manipur and Assam, in addition to poets who write in English.

It may be mentioned that Sahitya Akademi has partnered with NKDA to organise the poetry festival on December 24.

There will be discussion on various topics during the fair, like online fraud and how it is affecting senior citizens, 75 years of Azad Hind Fauj, history of automobiles in Kolkata and the relevance of Sister Nivedita. There will also be regular cultural shows during the festival, where well known artistes and folk artistes will take part.