Several publications may not be allowed to set up stalls in Book Fair

Kolkata: Several publishers participating in the 45th International Kolkata Book Fair which is scheduled to take place in Salt Lake from January 31 may not be allowed as they are not fully vaccinated.

According to a format given by the Publishers and Book Sellers Guild (PBSG), the publishers have to mention whether they have been vaccinated or not. But a few publishers have not been vaccinated as they were unwilling. Tridib Chatterjee, President of the PBSG on Tuesday stated that it is not their decision. "If any publishers are not going to follow the directions given by the state government we cannot do anything. The guidelines given by the administration need to be followed accordingly. We have informed the publishers about the guidelines, said Chatterjee.

Despite the PBSG being informed about the guidelines of the state government several publishers are not willing to get vaccinated. The logic they are giving is several people are getting Covid infected despite them being fully vaccinated. Also it is not mandatory to be vaccinated.

Sources informed that the publishers will not be prevented from opening their stalls in the fair. If the administration acts against those publishers who have not been vaccinated, PBSG will not interfere in the matter.

It may be mentioned that more than 800 stalls will be there in the book fair. This year's focal theme country is Bangladesh. The birth centenary of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the Golden Jubilee year of Independence of Bangladesh will be celebrated in this year's fair. These apart, the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, birth centenary of the legendary film maestro Satyajit Ray and the 75th year of Indian Independence will also be celebrated at the fair.