State to organise book fairs in all 23 districts from Dec 7 to Jan 27
KOLKATA: The state Mass Education Extension and Library Services department will hold book fair in all the 23 districts and Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad from December 7 to January 27.
The calendar for the book fair has been circulated among all the 294 MLAs of the state with the request to all to create awareness in their respective constituency so that the turnout at the Book Fair is good.
"Fishes cannot live without water, similarly Bengalis cannot remain without books. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been kind enough to provide assistance of Rs 6.5 lakh to each of the districts for hosting the fairs. The entire calendar has been framed in consultation with the publishers across the state,"Siddiqullah Chowdhury, Minister for Mass Education Extension and Library Services said.
During 2021-22,books worth more than Rs 9.98 lakh was sold at the Fair with the turnout of visitors being over 1.22 crore. Last year, financial assistance provided for hosting the Book Fair was Rs 6 lakh each.About Rs 7000 to Rs 8000 was charged for each stall in the fair last year, but this time it has been brought down to Rs 4000. More than 100 leading publishers are taking part in the Book Fair.
The theme of this year's Book Fair is based upon Maulana Abul Kalam Azad whose birthday (November 11) is celebrated as National Education Day across India.