After Gangasagar Mela, will Kolkata International Book Fair get a go ahead?

If the West Bengal government can give a go ahead for the Gangasagar Mela mega event amid a surging Covid-19 graph in the state, they can always give a nod to the Kolkata International Book Fair. At least this is the general mood among most booksellers, publishers as well as members of the organisers, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild.

Kolkata: If the West Bengal government can give a go-ahead for the Gangasagar Mela mega-event amid a surging Covid-19 graph in the state, they can always give a nod to the Kolkata International Book Fair. At least this is the general mood among most booksellers, publishers as well as members of the organisers, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild.

The annual fair, which is slated to be kicked off from January 31, is a two-week-long affair. And in terms of crowd puller for the state, it is the next best thing to Gangasagar fair. According to figures available with the state government, an estimated 25 lakh visit the weeklong Gangasagar Mela and the Kolkata Book Fair draws a crowd of around 14 lakh during the two weeks, averaging around two lakh persons visiting and congregating at the fairground.

The matter of holding the Gangasagar fair went to the courts and after two consecutive cases filed with the Calcutta High Court challenging the government's decision to hold the annual mega-event, the court had appointed a committee to oversee the arrangements of the fair and ensure that Covid protocols are well maintained. Double vaccination as well as RT-PCR negative report with a validity of 72 hours have been made mandatory for entry to the fair. But, several physicians as well as those involved with the Gangasagar Mela over a long time have said, there is simply no mechanism to ensure these guidelines in front of a sea of people, especially during the holy dip of Sankranti, scheduled on January 14.

Similar apprehensions are there for the book fair, which is held at the Central Park fairground of Salt Lake in the eastern fringes of the metropolis. The Guild is currently keeping its fingers crossed and is carrying on with its organizational functions, which they do in the run-up to the annual mega event. The only thing they are skeptical about is the participation of foreign literary personalities as well as national and international publishers.

“Once the fairground was shifted to Salt Lake from the Maidan, the space available for the book fair is now fixed and cannot be altered. We also need to take care of all publishers associated with the industry, be it big, medium, or small as well as little magazines and others. As a result, we were left with only one choice and that was to cut the size of the stalls to ensure as much as possible clutter-free movement inside the fairground,” says Guild president Sudhanshu Sekhar Dey.

According to Guild officials, the usual stall size in Kolkata International Book Fair ranges from 100 square feet to 1600 square feet. This time, the stalls will be of a size ranging between 67 sqft and 1050 sqft. There will be seven types of stalls in the fairground according to the size of the stalls and the Guild has not left any choice to the publishers about the location this time. The entire process has been done through a lottery system and the stall sizes and locations have already been prefixed.

A Guild official said, stall distribution for English language publishers and other publishers from different states have been currently kept on hold, as many publishers have expressed their inability to participate in the fair due to the Covid situation and restrictions in place. The mega halls, which used to accommodate these publishers, might not be put to use in the end.

General Secretary of the Guild, Tridib Kumar Chattopadhyay says the organisers are in constant touch with the government authorities about participants from foreign countries. The Guild had declared that Bangladesh will be the theme country for 2022 fair and both the birth centenary of the neighbouring country's founder Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh's independence will be celebrated.

“We are expecting a word from the state government on the future of this year's book fair very soon. If we have our guests and representatives from Bangladesh on a 14-day quarantine period once they reach Kolkata, it will be tough for all of us. We are also expecting some directions from the government on this. On our part, we are keeping our organisational work updated, which includes stall distribution and other formalities, so that there is no last-minute delay,” says a senior Guild official.

The Kolkata International Book Fair was last held in 2020 and the 2021 edition was cancelled due to the second wave of the Covid infection. What will be the fate of the fair this year amid the raging third wave and public health experts as well as physicians sounding an alarm against holding large gatherings and congregations, is anybody's guess. Will this issue also reach the courts like the Gangasagar fair? The wait for the answer could be short.